Mirror, Mirror
by peiot
Summary: Eternal damnation isn't enough to keep bitter villains from revenge. Nico, the mouthy new girl, and Apollo's pretty boy are sent off on a perilous quest, but when surviving the next five minutes is a challenge, what hope can they have of success?
1. Prolouge: Final Stands

Whoohoo! First PJO fanfic! I'm so pumped! I've recently re-re-read the series and now and once again, I am consumed by unnaturally potent fan girl obsession, which leads me to creating this fanfic, commemorating to the wonders of Rick Riordan's universe, and his favorite character of mine, Nico Di Angelo! :D

I know, I know, I should really be putting all of this time and energy into my other, unfinished fanifc _Clouded Minds, Fractured Souls_ but I'm just not that patient of a person…I jump from project to project, each time with a fervent passion which fades after a few months of intense devotion…but don't fret, I always return to my unfinished schemes and see them through to the end, eventually. So, you have been warned. No telling when this will be finished, but for now, expect a lot of fast updates while the demigod fever still burns within! :P

Without further ado, I humbly present the prologue to my story, and pray to the gods of Olympus you shall enjoy!

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><p>With shallow, fast breaths, a lithe figure raced through the trees at top speed, each footfall landing with a soft thump in the soft, damp grass. A chilling wind gushed through the pines and wispy tendrils of mist clung hauntingly around the boughs, fogging the vision of the fleeing figure, but the being didn't slow.<p>

Stifling a ragged gasp of exertion, the girl flicked her head over her shoulder to take a fleeting glimpse behind her, her wispy, sweaty hair dancing around her shoulders with the movement. Despite her best effort, she couldn't see anything through the haze of night, fog, and branches.

The uncertainty of her purser's whereabouts sped her feet on faster. Desperately ignoring the throbbing aches in her sides, she lept nimbly over a fallen tree which barred her path.

An unexpected thorn bush branch snagged at the quiver of arrows bouncing on her thin back and the young girl was forced screech abruptly to a halt to rip her equipment from her hostile environment. She took off with renewed terror, eyes wide as she narrowly avoided other trees, silently praying to the gods, goddesses, anyone who was watching, who could save her sorry hide from her current predicament.

A low growl suddenly erupting from her close left, and, acting on pure instincts, fueled by pure adrenaline, the slender teen hurdled the opposite direction of the menacing noise. Her effort was in vain however. At the same instant of her change of course, pounding paw steps charged through the brush, charging at a much greater speed than the girl could perform, even when well-rested.

The teenaged girl let out a involuntary squeak of terror as a fierce, guttural roar of rage and hunger ripped through the air mere yards behind her. Taking one last desperate bound, the exhausted girl jumped around a particularly massive pine and found her self in a small clearing filled with soft pools of moonlight. Using her momentum to spin herself around on her heel, she came to an abrupt halt, and with the ease of much practice, detached herself from her silver bow and notched an arrow, all in one fluid motion.

She could run no further. She hadn't slept in 36 hours, and couldn't even remember when she'd had her last meal. She had no one's help, of that she was sure.

In the brief millisecond before her enemy came crashing down on her, several bitter thoughts flitted through her mind.

_Goodbye, anyone I might have had in the future; have a nice life. Goodbye, Mother, one more problem taken care of for you._

_So what if I'll probably die here. I'm okay with that. I had nothing to live for to begin with…is it technically death if I don't consider myself truly alive?_

With a tremendous howl, a large beast burst forth from above the trees, briefly blotting out the moon with it's large form before plunging down towards the poised girl below.

The arrow flew with implacable aim, but before it had even hit her target, the next had been notched and let loose by the girl's nimble fingers. Rapid fire, without missing a beat, without a noise, she let loose a barrage of silver shafts on her attacker. The huge monster roared it disapproval at being pricked so, and landed with an earth-quaking thud in front of it's prey, merely inconvenienced by her brave efforts of resistance.

She continued to flawlessly shoot at her seemingly unperturbed opponent, who again growled his frustration. It raised an enormous paw, ready to swipe down at it's pesky quarry.

Her throat tightened, and her eyes narrowed in determination as the claws swooped down towards her.

_But no matter what, I'll go down fighting…it's the only way I know how to exist…I could never give up._

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><p>Nico woke up in a cold sweat, swallowing dryly, long fingers grasping at the sheets of his bunk. For a few moments, he simply stared blankly at the roof of the Hades Cabin, waiting for his heart to stop boxing his rib cage. Slowly, he sat up and let out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding.<p>

"Damn demigod dreams…can never get a decent night's sleep," he mumbled to himself, running a hand through his unkempt black hair. Nico closed his eyes in exasperation, realizing that it would take quite a while to fall asleep after a vision like that.

The girl…she couldn't be any older than him. Did she die? It was possible it had been a past death…being a son of Hades, he got those a lot. Always makes for a good morning when you wake up with dying screams in your ears. No, that was sarcasm, not emo.

But this one in particular had been very vivid. Instead of just watching, he had felt her pain, her unbreakable determination…her utter terror.

She was undoubtedly a demigod, but he hadn't recognized her. Not saying much though, Nico didn't know too many demigods personally.

Alone. No help in Camp Half-Blood. Forsaken by her godly parent, probably shunned by her human realitives. He felt for her, for her situation. He'd been there before. Being prince of darkness and death didn't score you the title of Miss Popular too often.

Although life's better now: he's accepted in Camp Half-Blood, and is on speaking terms with Dad. But Nico can't ever forget the dark days, right after Bianca's death...

With a shudder, hhe flopped back down on my pillow. Tomorrow would suck if he didn't get a solid's night sleep, but somehow he knew he'd still be staring at the same spot on the celing in a few hours, haunted by the girl of his nightmare.

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><p>EDIT #2 : Facepalm. I apologize for my extreme indeciveness, but it's back to 3rd POV. But I still will be making revisions to the other chapters.<p>

Thanks for reading! Thank YOU for revewing! :)


	2. Chapter 1: Silhouettes

Just to clarify a few things, this story is set about 3 - 4 years after The Last Olympian. Although I enjoyed The Lost Hero, and have even pre-ordered The Son of Neptune, it's just too hard to guess where the end of the second series will leave Nico, and Camp Half-Blood. So no matter how much I love the Roman demigods and such, I'm just going to pretend they don't exist, for simplicity's sake.

So, onto the first actual chapter of our story!

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><p>If Nico could pick only one word to describe Camp Half-Blood, he'd have to chose "intense."<p>

His dark brown eyes narrowed in concentration, Nico quickly analyzed his battle options. Barely pausing to suck in a breath, he fluidly slide his right foot out, lowered himself closer to the ground, and sprung upwards, swinging his double-handed stygian blade with him. His opponent barely had time to block the son of Hades' onslaught with his own sword. With a deft twist of his wrists, the dark haired boy cleanly knocked the younger boy's sword out of his hands. A quick side-step brought the two nose-to-nose, Nico's naked blade pressed gently against the other's neck.

For a second, they simply locked eyes, breathing heavily before Nico stepped away, slipping his black sword back into it's sheath. His defeated opponent gave a light laugh of resignation and went to gather his fallen weapon. Nico's lip twitched into a slight smile as the younger boy turned once again to face him.

"You're improving," he told the son of Hermes, who brightened immediately at the praise.

A few yards away, a snicker quickly wiped whatever pride the kid may have felt.

"Tch, really? I couldn't tell, it looked to me like you got your ass handed to you, Derek."

Derek's cheeks tinged pink and he turned to face his mocker.

"Shut up, Kyston, I'd like to see you do any better!" he huffed angrily at his half-sibling, who was lolling about with the rest of the Hermes' clan. The rest of the pointy-nosed kids chuckled good naturedly at the banter between their cabin-mates. Kyston rolled up his sleeves, a wide grin spreading over his face, the kind that would have him immediately pegged as a trouble maker, or, in the demigod world, a classic child of Hermes.

"Challenge accepted; give me the sword."

Willingly, Derek handed him the simple training sword he had lost moments ago. Nico rolled his eyes and groaned.

"You guys, this is supposed to be a lesson, not a competition," he complained, eyeing the eager Kyston, who was already in a battle stance.

"Yeah, I'm going to teach Derek how this is supposed to be done!"

Nico shook his head defiantly.

"I'm the teacher, you guys are the students," he reprimanded, stressing his point by pointing to himself, and the Hermes cabin.

"Come on, just a quick one! Or are you afraid to fight me?" Kyston challenged, quirking an eyebrow tauntingly. The assorted kids around them hooted and hollered at the pair, some encouraging Nico to beat some respect into him, other cheering Kyston on against their young trainer.

Nico huffed lightly, but was unable to keep the flicker of amusement off his face. He could only resist the temptation for so long, and really, where was the harm? Kyston noticed his change of expression and tightened his grip around the sword, suddenly seeming to realize that he'd gotten his way, for better or worse

"If that's the way it's gotta be…" Nico mumbled, before whipping his black blade back out and springing at his trainee. To his pride as a teacher, the less experienced boy jumped quickly out of the way and charged his back. His motions were a bit clumsy, and Nico could predict his next move by following his eyes, but nonetheless, it was a good effort. Their blades met with a sharp clang, exciting their audience who picked up the volume of their cheers.

Kyston's smirk faltered and Nico smiled his own twisted leer at him, pushing harder against his sword. Kyston's grip weakened and his sword slipped to the side. Nico continued shoving forward, planning to simply place the edge of his blade against the other's throat, like he had with Derek, but Kyston must have learned from his half-brother's mistake, and quickly ducked down, rolling away to the side and springing up again.

Nico's wicked smirk melted into a small smile of actual pleasure.

"Not bad," he admitted. Good to know at least someone was paying attention when he was demonstrating.

Kyston chuckled nervously, looking a little surprised himself, but the instant his guard had been lowered, Nico spun around in a sharp half circle, knocking the kid's feet from underneath him, landing him on his back, with Nico's blade tip gently poking the center of his chest.

Kyston let out a grunt as he hit the ground, staring wide-eyed at the sword master above him. After a second, Nico pulled back his sword, and instead offered his hand to help his fellow camper up. The surrounding Hermes cabin exploded into laughter.

"Nice one, Nico!"

"Oh, burn, Kyston!"

"Haha, you got schooled, Ky!"

Kyston laughed it off sheepishly and accepted Nico's hand up.

"…but don't let your enemy distract you."

"Yeah, yeah…"

Just at that moment, chaos descended on the swordsmanship class in the form of the Stoll Brothers. The Cabin 11's head counselors whirled around the corner of the Arena, typical large grins on their faces and suspicious looking black dust on their faces that Nico deeply feared was explosive. The youngest Hermes campers screamed their delight at seeing their idols. Nico sheathed his sword and shoved his hands deep into his jean pockets, not sure what to expect from the ever unpredictable brothers.

"Hey guys! Hi Nico!" they chorused, coming to a screeching halt in the center of their little group.

"Mhm," he said softly. The brothers were undeniably his friends and had been for many years, but he'd learned much caution when dealing with them in this sort of destructively happy mood.

But if they noticed the wary look he was shooting them, they paid no heed.

"Can you guys read a clock or what? It's dinner time!" stated Travis matter-of-factly, motioning for his siblings to get up. Eagerly they did, rushing off to the dining pavilion, Conner and Travis turned to follow them, but when Nico made no immediate move to follow, they paused to give him an odd look.

"Ni-co," Conner prompted, "Dinner…ya know, food?"

The dark haired boy sighed in reassignment, put away the training sword they had been borrowing, and traipsed after his older friends.

"I know, I heard you the first time."

"Aw, come on, no pouty death glares, it's only the first week of camp!" declared Travis.

"No grumpy sword masters, scares away the 'wittle 'nes," Conner cooed teasingly.

"I'm not the sword master to begin with."

"We are running so low on teachers, you know you're gonna get upgraded from a substitute any time now."

Nico didn't respond, acknowledging the truth in Travis's answer. Ever since the flux in claimed demigods, Camp Half-Blood had been almost overwhelmed, and right now, in the peak summer, when they were ALL here, it was all they could do to keep a semblance of order.

By now the trio had reached the separation in the paths leading to the Dining Pavilion and the cabins. Nico veered away from the flow of hungry campers, heading against traffic to his black cabin.

"I'll catch up, just gonna put my sword away!" he called after the Stoll Brothers, who nodded and continued shepherding their charges to their table.

Grateful to escape the heat of the day and the endless noise of the other campers, Nico melted into the shadows of his cabin. Even on the hottest of summer days, the thick stone walls radiated a frigid chill. Most people would imagine hell and death as hot, fire, pain, but Nico would have to disagree. The true loneliness of death was in the separation, the cold, silent agony.

Nico propped his sheath and sword in the corner of his cabin, and face palmed himself. Thinking about things like that was exactly why people pegged him as a goth or an emo. His refusal to comply with the camp's obnoxiously bright orange shirt might help with that reputation. So what if he preferred black? Beggars couldn't be choosers, and they might as well have been begging for his help this summer with all the new campers. Camp Half-Blood needed all the experienced demigods it could get to help train and condition their new recruits.

Absentmindedly, he brushed his bangs out of his eyes and wandered quietly back out into the scorching sun, which was finally beginning to set. He headed off towards the babble of voices, quickly reaching the mingle of orange-clad kids.

"Hey Nico, how's it going?"

Annabeth's voice turned him around to face the blonde girl, who was offering a happy smile. She was already seated at Athena's table, food on her plate. Nico's stomach made an odd grumbling noise at the sight of the lean steak, secretly wishing it was a hamburger. _Damn Camp Half-Blood, not even offering a choice to be unhealthy._ Annabeth laughed, and he realized he had been eyeing her food quite strangely.

"Hungry?" she giggled and Nico shrugged guiltily.

"Teaching is hard," he defended himself, "Talk to you later, gotta refuel."

Annabeth nodded and the teenage boy continued on with his dinner. Gingerly, he scraped a part of his meal into the fire.

"To Hades," he murmured softly, before doing a double-take in confusion. For a spilt second, he could have sworn he had seen a blurry white circle in the smoke of his burning food, but the moment he blinked, due to said smoke in his eye, it was gone. Nico stared intensely into the fire for another moment, when a sharp female "ahem," behind him made him turn.

He was greeted by the obnoxious scowl of Drew, Aphrodite's ex-head counselor. Nico glared surly back at her. She'd been quite the tyrant while she reigned, but eventually she had been brought down - hallelujah, not only for the Aphrodite campers.

"You're holding up the line, move it."

Nico's upper lip curled.

"You're stuck up, move it," he retorted in a falsetto valley-girl voice, mimicking Drew's over dramatic hand movements. The kid behind Drew burst into peals of laughter and Nico exchanged eye contact with the amused camper before moving off to avoid Drew's angry retort.

Languidly, he flopped onto the edge of Cabin 13's empty benches. He gobbled down his food with a speed and intensity only a growing teenage boy can exhibit, completely isolated in his little island of solitude in the babbling mass of campers. With a little pang of sadness, he looked around at the pavilion. Only four other tables of the twenty were emptier than his, with a population of zero.

Zeus's had been empty for ages, ever since Thaila joined the hunters years ago. Nico smiled sadly at the thought of his friend, wondering when he'd see her again - it'd been a while.

Hera's table is just for show. Thank the gods, because Nico didn't want to even imagine how nasty her children would be.

Poseidon's table was barren too, seeing as Tyson and Percy had been gone for a few weeks now, visiting their father's underwater castle. They should be coming back soon though, Nico mused, Chiron has undoubtedly ask for their help. _That'll be good, Percy can maybe help me with some of the sword training around here._

And, Artemis's table was of course just for respect, or when the hunters came around, which was almost never. Camp Half-Blood and Artemis's followers didn't exactly mingle very well together, as was famously known.

Other than that, all the other tables were teeming with life, except for Hypnos, a minor god of sleep, who had only two kids, both of which had fallen asleep face-downward in their plate of food. Even Pollux, Mr. D's only surviving son, had a new little sister, almost a female replica of her elder half brother.

_But that's ok_, thought Nico desperately, trying to cheer himself up, _I'm more of a loner anyway, what would I do if there was another child of Hades?_

_You mean a surviving child of Hades_, whispered an dark voice in the back of his mind. Nico mentally winced, but refused succumb to his weak thoughts. He'd moved on, Bianca's death was tragic, but she wanted him to have a happy life…

His attention was distracted by a movement in the corner of his eye. He turned his head to see Chiron getting out of his fake wheelchair. Nico inwardly chuckled at the "eeps" and "ohs" from the younger campers who were still unaccustomed to seeing the centaur.

"Ahem," Chiron cleared his throat loudly, ensuring that he had everyone's focus. Silence descended upon the ranks, and their teacher smiled kindly down at them.

"Well, well, it seems we have reached our first summer Friday." The campers who had been here for longer than a year exploded into rowdy cheers, knowing what Chiron was getting to. He beamed happily down at the group, before finally revealing,

"Which of course means Capture the Flag!"

Excited chatter filled the air before Chiron stomped one of his hoofed feet, demanding respectful silence. Still grinning in anticipation, the campers complied.

"So, to stick with tradition, we will have Cabin 6 lead one team," Athena's cabin let out a cheer of approval. Nico noticed in particular the excited look on Annabeth's face.

"And the opposing team will be led by Cabin 5," Ares's children roared their appreciation. Clarisse was still the loudest and the biggest, punching the air and screaming something about making her enemies cry for their "mama's" Nico rolled his eyes. He'd come to appreciate Clarisse more after the events in New York, but they hadn't maintained a very friendly bond throughout the years.

"SO!" shouted Chiron. After he had regained control, he repeated himself , in a more normal volume, "So, you all have half an hour to prepare your alliances and draw up battle strategies. Off you go. Oh, except the Iris cabin, you have clean up duty tonight so I'd shake a leg if I were you."

Chiron briefly glanced down at his horsy haunches, before correcting himself. "Or a hoof, you could shake that too."

Grumbling, Butch led the small Iris cabin into the kitchen to clean the dishes at top speed. Everyone else stormed out of the Dining Pavilion, Annabeth and Clarisse exchanging a few taunts as they retreated.

Nico followed the pack, but at a more slow pace, deciding to watch and see how the sides were panning out before jumping into a rash decision simply because he preferred Annabeth over Clarisse. They were both good captains, and had strengths and weaknesses - as always, it was going to be a good match.

He chuckled to himself, realizing how much thought and strategy he was putting into a mere game. _Oh well, it's to be expected if I hang out in this looney town for any extended period of time._

He observed with a nod of approval as Annabeth's first move was to convince the Apollo cabin to join her ranks. A wise choice - Cabin 7 was composed of nimble archers. Long range attacks were useful in stealth and defense. Then again, on the down side, their bows and arrows aren't the best weapons to have in the thick foliage the game is played in.

He turned his head just in time to see Clarisse shake hands with Lou Ellen, head of the Hectate Cabin. Nico's eyes widened in appreciation of Clarisse's choice. Cabin 20 possessed powerful magic, mostly explosive, spelling out bad news for Annabeth. Of course Clarisse would go for the raw power - it fit her fighting style.

Next, Annabeth collected Demeter's cabin - yet another very strategic option that perhaps covered slightly for the Apollo Cabin's weakness. Children of the goddess of the harvest had abilities with plants, a few of them quite powerful, and the foliage and natural surroundings during the game would be to their advantage.

Here, his observations were disturbed by noting Clarisse advance towards him. Nico could plainly read her intentions - she wanted to recruit him. Despite his misgivings on being against the combined forces of Ares and Hectate, Nico made a split second decision and turned to find Annabeth. He didn't want to be dragged along for Clarisse's glory ride simply because he was powerful.

It took him only a few moments to locate the blonde girl, who was just sealing an alliance with the Hephaestus cabin. Nico tapped her shoulder briefly to get her attention. The grey-eyed girl turned and smiled broadly up at him. Despite being several years younger, Nico had hit a growth spurt a while back and now had a good foot on his friend.

"Athena and Hades?" she asked cheerily, never happier than while planning a great battle. Nico gave a brief nod and Percy's girlfriend looked pleased.

"Excellent. Hurry and grab your sword and come back to help."

_Bossy as always_, Nico thought, although not bitterly. Annabeth was a wise and confident leader - a worthy daughter of Athena.

He did as she said and when he came back, found Cabin 6's head counselor explaining her plan of action to the heads of her allied cabins. Nico slid into place quietly, crouching down with the others to see the little diagram Annabeth had hastily drawn in the dirt.

"…and Connor, Travis, you led a band of your stealthiest into enemy territory to scout out their flag. Don't get to close unless you are POSITIVE you can nab it, ok? The rest of you Hermes kids will stay on defense," she looked up Nico, now with his black sword in hand.

"Oh ok good, yes, Nico you are going to be defense as well. Uh, I think Chiron banned shadow travel because apparently it doesn't make for a fair game, but earth manipulation and undead soldiers are a go, ok?"

Nico nodded, feeling a bit put out that his powers were being restricted. Suddenly, in an odd sort of epiphany, he realized he was the only child of the Big Three currently at camp. Was that why? Did Percy have water privileges taken away in the games too?

"Five minutes!" warned Chiron as he galloped by, off into the woods where he would observe the game as usual.

"Right," Annabeth responded, before standing up, dusting the dirt of her knees, scuffing out the plans she'd drawn, and leading her team after the centaur. Clarisse broke up her huddle and her brigade quickly tagged along behind.

Following orders, Nico found himself a spot next to the predetermined border and settled himself in the shadows, feeling reassured in his power as the dark silhouettes reached out towards his still figure, covering him in a shield of darkness. The sun would set in perhaps twenty minutes, strengthening his shadow manipulation powers even more, if the game even lasted that long.

With the ease of practice, Nico slowed his heart rate with slow, deep breaths. Faithfully, the shadows clenched their grip around him, and even if one had inferred vision, they would now have a difficult time locating the young demigod. The dark power coursing through his veins gave him a rush of energy and he couldn't keep the devilish smirk from sneaking across his face. Although he'd come to grip with his abilities in a emotionally painful manner, he'd quickly learn to relish his finally unburied potential.

Gently, he rolled his head to the side, willing his shield of blackness to mute the movement, testing his "cloak of invisibility" as Percy had teasingly nick-named this particular skill of his.

A deep melodic horn echoed through the woods, announcing the start of the game. Nico lightly fingered the hilt of his Stygian iron sword, eager for the first, unsuspecting enemy to wander into his sight.

A few still minutes passed before Nico's silent patience was rewarded as a son of Aphrodite and a girl Nico recognized to be from the Tyche cabin, goddess of fortune. The son of Hades's squinted in concentration as the pair slipped closer and closer to the border, until they had crossed the invisible line dividing the territories.

At that instant, Nico surged forward out of the shadows, earning a startled gasp from the trespassers. With a swift, sharp thrust of his left arm, the ground groaned, and cracked into a massive gap, stranding the two from returning to their side.

"AAHH!" squealed the Tyche girl while the boy from Aphrodite nearly dropped the short sword he was shakily holding.

"Hello there," murmured the black-clad teen, smugly watching his quivering opponents.

"Aw, hydra shit, of course we would run into the one-man-death-band," groaned the boy, before wheeling around on his younger female companion.

"Aren't you supposed to be lucky or something?" he demanded of the girl, who had at least enough wits about her to shoot him a nasty glare, before drawing a small dagger out of her sleeve.

"I said no guarantees," she squeaked in a high pitched voice, taking up a standard defensive position.

Nico quirked an eyebrow at the pathetic pair, before deciding to take pity and simply raise a few undead soldiers to deal with them. Accordingly, he focused his energy on the welt in the earth he had created, reaching with his mind, down…far down, until he could almost even hear the wails of pained souls coming from his father's realm…

The skeletons responded to their prince's call and accordingly four or five chattering warriors heaved themselves out of the crevices, and Nico leapt lightly away into some more shadows, confident that it would take them sufficient time to be defeated. Not that those two were much of a threat to his side to begin with.

He ran several hundred yards away from his first location, until he found another suitable spot to wrap himself in the shadows. Now, he barely had time to settle himself before an ugly redheaded Ares camper, one of their more senior fighters, charged recklessly across the border, a bloodthirsty grin plastered on his face.

Again, Nico released himself from the shadows' clasp, this time swinging his short black blade up to deliver a strong blow directed to dent the kid's red plumed helmet. Not surprisingly, the boy's well-trained reflexes kicked in and he instinctively blocked Nico's strike with his spear.

Nico grit his teeth, knowing he had found a much stronger rival than his last two, and he turned quickly, releasing them from a pressure battle, making a quick swipe at the other's unprotected legs, but the ugly guy just jumped above the black tip.

_A challenge, interesting…_Nico mused as he quarried against oncoming blows, searching for another option. If he could just get a second to concentrate, perhaps he could knock him off balance with a pit or two in the ground…

But his enemy wasn't giving him the chance to focus on ripping open the soil. They continued their dance of spear vs. sword, neither really gaining the upper hand.

But after a while, the kid's concentration begin to slip as he grew more and more frustrated with his slippery target. With snarl of rage, he made a desperate plunge of his spear which Nico not only had no trouble avoiding, but had enough to time to give the shaft a mighty whack from his sword, causing the handle to splinter. For a brief moment, the Ares kid stared at his now useless spear, before shocking Nico by turning back and leaping bare-handed onto dark haired boy.

The other's element of surprise gave him an advantage; he was able to actually knock him flat onto his back. In the small pause while the redhead had been gaping at the damage done to his weapon, Nico had been trying to raise a wall of stone to hurl at him, but hadn't been giving sufficient time, now resulting the an alarmingly large pothole next to them.

If the Ares kid noticed, he didn't care. Nico immediately began writhing under him, freeing one leg and trying to use it to twist himself out from underneath the much larger guy sitting on him. Apparently unbothered by Nico's efforts, the redhead wound his fist back to deliver what would have been an painful punch to the face, when he finally was able to wrap his knee around the larger boy's torso, and with grunt, knocked him off.

The opposing camper smacked hard into the ground, the side of his head crashing roughly into the accidental ditch Nico had created. To the redhead's credit, he began immediately to get up, despite the blood trickling down the side of his face, but he stood no chance against Nico now.

The raven haired teen flexed his left arm in front of him, tensing his muscles, and with a powerful sweep, the earth opened up and swallowed his downed opponent up to his neck, just barely leaving his face above ground. Obviously, the Ares kid was not pleased with turn of events and began screaming and cursing before Nico locked him in a death glare and growled,

"Shut up."

Alas, Ares's offspring are not the sharpest tool in the shed - he ignored Nico's command - and he now had to breathe through his nose while spitting out clumps of dirt and rocks.

Wild whoops of joy interrupted the victor and his furious, although mostly silent, defeated adversary.

"Win for Cabin 6!" bellowed Chiron's voice from over the treetops, and Nico smiled gently at the direction of the rejoicing.

_Well done, Annabeth, a speedy victory, per usual._

He turned back to stare at the enraged Ares boy. He'd spat out the biggest chunks, but when he snarled, Nico could still see mud coating his teeth. Nico chuckled.

"You're beat. Admit it, and I'll get you out,"

The response was foul enough to make him raise an eyebrow, impressed.

"Have a nice mud bath."

And without another word, he jogged towards the clamor of his celebrating team. It wasn't hard to locate his loud, victorious team, gathered on the outskirts of the forest. A few hundred feet over, Clarisse and her teammates were slowly trickling out of the woods. Nico caught a glimpse of the boy from Aphrodite and the Tyche girl tossing him resentful glances.

Nico gazed evenly back, before finally deciding that perhaps he wouldn't particularly want to be banned from camp for letting a fellow camper die/get injured in the woods on his account. He caught Clarisse's attention with a sharp whistle.

"Hey, Clarisse! You might want to fetch a shovel and dig Ugly Red up. It seems he's grown fond of the Dryads and is trying to grow roots."

Clarisse scowled furiously. Nico shrugged with feigned innocence.

"Couldn't convince him otherwise."

Suddenly, the person next to him let out a yelp of surprise. Nico turned quickly to see Derek from sword training, pointing up the hill to the border and entrance to camp.

"Uh, who's that?"

Confused, Nico followed his outstretched finger to see a silhouette between the columns of the entrance to Camp Half-Blood, imposed over the molten setting sun. Short and feminine, and strangely, as still as a statue. She held her shoulder at an odd angle that Nico didn't think was normal.

A blur of orange sped past the corner of Nico's vision, speeding towards the mysterious figure. A tall blond tossed a confused look over his shoulder at them.

"She's hurt! Come on!" he encouraged, continuing his sprint up the hill.

Nico dropped his sword and sheath to the ground and chased after the first guy. He heard several other campers drop their weapons and follow in pursuit, but he didn't bother to see who, as the girl they were approaching suddenly wavered, before collapsing heavily to the ground.

To Nico's horror, he felt the all-too-familiar buzzing in his ears begin to slowly invade the back of his subconscious. He grit his teeth and put on an extra burst of speed, fearing the worst.

The blond who had led the charge skidded to halt, throwing himself at the ground next to the girl's head. Nico arrived mere seconds after, dropping to a crouch to examine her as well. In wordless understanding, the two boys rolled her over onto to her back as gently as possibly.

She was petite and unkempt, dirt and sweat covered her face, tears having carved a few salty tracks down her cheeks. Her braid was full of twigs and matted clumps of blood, and her upper torso was soaked. The kids behind them finally arrived onto the scene, twittering in surprise. Annabeth dropped to her knees beside Nico.

"Is - " she started, but Nico interrupted with the answer.

"She's dying," he growled, slowly prying her cold fingers from her twisted shoulder, the source of the massive bleeding. The blond on her other side made a worried noise through his teeth as Nico revealed the full extent of the damage.

Nico was no healer but he knew that amount of blood-loss wasn't a good sign. The blond slide his tanned and calloused fingers across the injured shoulder, softly poking and prodding with obvious expertise. Somewhere in the back of his mind, Nico realized that he was probably one of Apollo's kids, but the dangerous buzzing, which was growing louder, was of more concern to him at the moment.

"Someone hurry and do something, she's fading!" he snapped, panic creeping into his voice.

"Someone have ambrosia? Anyone?" Annabeth demanded shrilly of the other campers, who quickly patted their emtpy pockets, all replying with distressed "no's."

Nico inwardly floundered, helpless. Sure, he could feel her fading grip on life, but he had no clue how to help in the least. His stomach clenched as the hum in his ears purred at an increasing volume.

"Her arm is dislocated and has been for a while, the wounds are deep, she has lost way too much blood, and is still bleeding" the blond informed them rapid fire, his palms evenly pressed against the ruin of shredded skin that used to be the girl's right shoulder, trying to stop the trickle of fresh blood.

Galloping hooves approached their little cluster, and Nico tore his eyes away form the hideous wounds to see Chiron arriving at full speed, a grim look on his face, and a small bag in his hands.

He tossed the bag at Annabeth, who caught it on reflex.

"Ambrosia, nectar, bandages. and by the looks of her, I'd say quickly."

Annabeth tore open the leather pouch. A Ziploc baggie of ambrosia and a miniature canteen of nectar. Without hesitation, she uncapped the little container and dripped a cautious amount of the precious liquid into her mouth, careful not to drown her. The blond frantically snatched up the bandages with blood-soaked hands. Nico was all eyes, waiting for a sign of life from the still figure on the grass. He let out a soft breath as the buzzing faded.

"She's coming back…" he murmured, leaning back onto his ankles, watching as Annabeth crumbled some ambrosia into her mouth and the blond finished placing the temporary wrappings around her right shoulder.

With a choking gulp, the girl suddenly came to, eyes open wide in alarm, and breathing in heavy irregular gasps. The blond now sat back too, letting out a gusty sigh of relief.

"Thanks, Apollo," he murmured.

Annabeth smiled, but placed a resisting hand on the girl's good shoulder to keep her from trying to get up.

"Hey, whoa there, let's take it easy," she said brightly, retracting her hand as the younger girl slowly lay back onto the grass, moaning in pain.

Even if the buzzing was gone now, but that only meant she wasn't dying. She was still going to be in a world of hurt.

"I - ah, _curses_!" the still nameless girl hissed through her teeth, squeezing her eyes shut tightly before opening them with another gasp. Hazel, with a spattering of freckles across her nose.

"Hello... Do you know where you are? What's your name?" asked Chiron gently, bending down the best he could.

Still grimacing, the girl rolled her eyes up to look Chiron in the eye. She blinked, momentarily taken aback by having a centaur looming over her, but she took it all in stride and responded the next second.

"Erin."

* * *

><p>Dun dun dun, cliffhanger! Ha, haven't had one of those for a while, it's kinda refreshing :D<p>

NOTE ON DREW: I know I said I was currently ignoring books published after TLO, but I feel that Drew would have gotten kicked out eventually, even without Piper.

KINDA IMPORTANT EXPLINATION: Yes, Nico mostly refers to the other campers by their cabin, godly parent, and distinctive qualities. Not because I'm too lazy to think of names for all these people, but because HE doesn't know them. I got the impression that Nico spent most of his time on the road, on his own little quests, with Hades, and, only when he got the chance/felt inclined - at Camp Half-Blood. As a result, the only ones he really knows by name are his friends from the last Great Prophecy. Don't worry though, he'll learn the important ones quick :)


	3. Chapter 2: Oracle Breath

Nico's fingertips pressed gently against the trodden grass around him as he straightened to watch Erin getting carried away in a stretcher. She was still fighting to stay conscious, and Annabeth was walking along side of her, passing bits of ambrosia. The rest of the campers either followed the girls or returned to their friends, babbling about the excitement. Nico stood still, switching his eyes from Erin's limp form out to look across the lake, the dying light of sunset glimmering across its dark waters.

The blond slowly stepped beside him, also silent. Nico looked to his left to see him staring at his open palms, which were bright red and glistening wet, crimson drops of blood rapidly sliding down his forearms.

Nico's eyebrows furrowed and he glanced up to actually look at the boy's face for the first time, having been too wrapped up the, you know, _dying_ to examine his fellow rescuer.

His sun-bleached dirty blond hair was short and tousled, he had a well chiseled nose, long lashes, cloudy blue eyes, and when he finally looked up to see Nico observing him with concern, he cracked a gorgeous genuine smile that must attract girls like flies to honey.

He chuckled lightly and bent down to wipe his soaked hands in the grass, adding to the clumps of sticky red already there. Once most of it was off, he stood up again and stuck out his right hand, the cheerful grin still spread across his face.

"Tristan Hotchs, son of Apollo," he said brightly.

Nico shook Tristan's hand briefly.

"Nico di Angelo, son of Hades."

Tristan's eyes lit up.

"Oh yeah, heard about you and the Titan War four years ago."

Nico grimaced a bit.

"Yeah," he mumbled, eyes flitting to Tristan's Camp Half-Blood necklace, which displayed two pearly beads, one yellow, the other dark blue.

"Two summers?" Nico voiced his words as a question, even though he already knew the answer.

The blond nodded, lightly fingering the woven strand around his throat.

"Yep, this will be my third," Tristan paused, light eyes briefly passing down from Nico's face to his bare neck and back up, "And you…?"

Nico half shrugged, turning back out to look across the water.

"I'm not really a camper, just here helping out."

"Oh, ok; that's cool."

The pair stood in silence for a moment or two before Nico crammed his hands into his pockets and started back down the hill towards his abandoned sword.

"Well, see you around, Tristan," he called over his shoulder.

"Yep, see ya," responded the blond as he turned and jogged off towards the cabins.

Without speaking to anyone else, Nico gathered up his fallen belongings and trudged to his own lodging. Suddenly discovering that he was exhausted, he tossed his weapon onto one of the many empty bunks, and flopped face-first and fully clothed onto his own. He was drained from dueling with swords all day, totally kicking butt at Capture the Flag, and not to mention the random bleeding chick who had been _this_ close to dying on their front door.

Muscles aching, completely buried in his pillow, Nico pondered the odd girl. They had taken her immediately to the hospital wing to give her more medicine and a good night sleep. Nico hadn't followed, so all he knew was her name: Erin.

Hm. He'd ask Annabeth in the morning how she was doing.

But for now, he was happy to pass out on his soft bed…

* * *

><p>Sighing softly, Erin rolled her head to the side, experimentally tugging at the cricks in her neck.<p>

_Damn, I'm sore. Why am I so sore?_

Her eyelids fluttered in the warm sunlight spilling across her face, and blearily, the girl blinked once or twice before the world came into focus.

She was in a bed. It was an indescribably wonderful feeling to wake up in a bed, and Erin had truly missed it. However, the circumstances of how she ended up in a bed were still rather obscure, and this worried Erin a bit.

There were plenty of other beds around her, all in crisp white sheets like her own, and Erin came to the realization that she was in some sort of medical facility, although it certainly wasn't a hospital due to the lack equipment and nurses

Speaking of nurses, there was actually no one to be seen. Which only served to make the mystery more puzzling: how did she get here? Where was here?

Footsteps skipped through the open doorway, and Erin turned her head sharply to see a athletic blonde girl round the corner. The girl's face lit up in a smile, bringing memories of yesterday crashing back down on Erin, and suddenly, she wished she could pretend to be asleep to avoid all the questions and hassle she was sure to receive.

_Ah Zeus' beard, I came to Camp Half-Blood! I was that desperate that I actually came to Camp Half-Blood, of all places!_

Gingerly, Erin flexed her right shoulder, and was surprised to feel only a gentle soreness. At least her last ditch attempt wasn't for nothing - they sure had fixed her up good. If only she had some of that ambrosia or nectar of her own…maybe she would have time to nab some on the way out.

By now the other girl – the one who had been with her last night, her name had been Annabeth, no? - had reached her bedside and was standing above her, a friendly smile on her face, but grey eyes full of churning thoughts.

"Hey there, Erin, you feeling any better?"

The corner of Erin's mouth twitched.

"Seems so."

"That's good. You kinda passed out again after we got into the Sick Bay - a bit of an overdose of nectar. But we had to; your injury was really bad. Anyway, it made setting your shoulder a bit easier."

Erin nodded slowly, left hand trailing across the freshly healed area.

"Thanks," …Annabeth."

"Oh, no problem. We really try to avoid having people die right outside the boundaries."

Erin would have expected this to be a statement delivered with a bit of sarcasm or humor, but Annabeth's voice was dead-serious, and Erin had to pause and wonder how many times that had happened before.

"Still, I know I wouldn't have made it without you guys."

_And I owe you_, was the unspoken subtext.

Annabeth nodded a bit before taking a step or two back.

"I'm going to go get Chiron; I just came to check up on you, we didn't think you were going to be awake just yet."

Annabeth turned and walked quickly back out of the doorway. The moment her shining blonde curls had flounced out of view, Erin sunk back into her pillows and ran a hand across her face, dreading her return.

She was friendly, yes, but Erin could hear the curious mistrust in her voice, and Chiron, the legendary demigod teacher, was only going to be ten times worse. They had taken her kindly in, treated her wounds, brought her back from the brink of death, and it was only reasonable that they were going to want answers - answers Erin was not going to provide.

Normally, Erin was not one for feelings of guilt. What she did, she did to survive. Lions feel no pity when they take the life a gazelle – it's the natural order of things. "The circle of life" as Disney has dramatically, yet, aptly put it. And she applied the same logical rules to any other crime she was forced to commit. If she was clever enough to pick pocket a man, then the best to her.

But throwing herself at their feet, bleeding and broken, _and then_ not cooperating bit a little differently. Her pride was wounded – an unpleasant and unfamiliar sensation – and Erin did not handle either well.

All too soon, Annabeth returned with a man in a wheelchair, and it took Erin a few seconds of staring to realize he had the same face as the centaur who had asked her name. They held eye contact for a few seconds, just long enough to make Erin wonder if he was going to say anything at all, when he finally did.

"I'm glad to see you have recovered some. We were a bit worried, but it seems you passed a good night?"

His voice was gentle, deep, and far older than he appeared.

"Yeah, you guys worked your hocus pocus well."

She hoped he would hear the thanks in her voice. The smiles lines around Chiron's eyes said he did.

"Of course. So, do you mind if I ask how you got in such a state?"

"Well, same story most demigods tell - big monster, no backup, barely escaped with my life."

Chiron nodded and Annabeth pursed her lips in understanding.

"I see you already know you are a demigod…interesting," he raised one shaggy brow, "Have you been claimed?"

"No."

Chiron obviously didn't believe her, but for whatever reason, he didn't push the issue right away. Annabeth shook her head slowly, biting the corner of her bottom lip.

"How old are you, Erin?" she asked in a slow voice.

"Fifteen, almost sixteen."

"I just don't get it…Olympus promised to claim all demigods by the age of thirteen. Why hasn't Erin?"

Erin chuckled sarcastically.

"Promises, ain't that what our divine relatives excel at?"

A gentle boom of thunder echoed, despite the clear blue sky outdoors. Chrion winced.

"Point taken, but insults against Olympus aren't going to be well received up there…"

Erin shrugged apologetically for Chiron's sake. If her mother was going to neglect her and hide her in shame, then, by her book, the gods and goddesses didn't deserve her respect.

Annabeth continued to peer at the younger girl.

"It might not be too hard to narrow down; do you know your mortal parent?"

"Nope," Erin announced, popping her 'p' for effect.

"Hm," Annabeth mused, trailing off into thought. Chiron spoke up again, asking an obvious question.

"Not to say you're not welcome here – all demigods are, especially those who need us – but seeing as you're not a camper and _could still_ find the camp, well, you'll understand if that's a bit of a security concern."

"One hears rumors. I was close by and desperate enough to try."

Not a total lie either. She'd heard stories of the camp, and it had been a last ditch attempt to save her life. Chiron, however, didn't look satisfied. Erin maintained eye contact evenly, as if daring him to call her out – while secretly praying he wouldn't.

In the end, either her bluff won out, or he had discerned enough of an answer for himself, because the subject was dropped.

"Ah well, and just in the nick of time. But all that's passed for now."

"_For now"…the polite way to say "This is not the last you will be hearing about this…"_

"Are you hungry?" asked Annabeth, clasping her hands behind in her back.

Erin paused for a second to take note of her cavernously empty stomach. Styx, another way to indebt herself to them, but a body's gotta eat when a body's gotta eat…

"Yeah," she admitted ruefully, cautiously switching her gaze from the silent centaur to the other girl.

Annabeth opened her mouth to say something but Chiron beat her to it.

"Would you care to join us at lunch in the Dining Pavilion? I believe your injuries shouldn't be hurting too much anymore."

Erin's heart dropped like a stone. Join them? At lunch? With a all the campers who saw her, uh, dramatic (to say the least) entrance last night?

Suddenly, something clicked.

Zeus's beard, was he trying to get her _claimed_? In passing, she'd heard accounts of traditions and norms of Camp Half-Blood, and apparently, meal times were a god-favorite to claim their child in front of all their peers.

How horrendous, she could barely stand the thought. Ha, well, on the upside, Erin knew the fat chance of that. If her godly parent wanted her to have fellow demigod friends, that would have been taken care of long ago.

"Ok, I guess," Erin agreed in a flakily pleasant voice, secretly wanting nothing more than to scarf down something and bolt out of the camp, free from questioning stares, interrogations, and people.

"All right then! Lunch should actually be about," Chiron looked out the window, reading the time from…the sun?

"Five minutes," he finished, turning back to smile kindly, but with a guarded air of suspect that chipped away at Erin's confidence.

"See you in a few," Annabeth called back as the two left the room. As soon as they were out of sight again, Erin let out a little groan, face palming her self lightly. How was it she always managed to tangle herself in the most undesirable of situations?

All thanks to the legendary _luck_ of the demigod, she supposed.

Right shoulder wincing, she pulled herself into a sitting position and swept the thin, white sheets of her legs, finding herself dressed in jean shorts and…oh, Olympus forbid, one of those obnoxious orange CHB t-shirts…

What had they done with her clothes? While she was unconscious nonetheless!

Staring astonished down at her pale thighs, a rush of memories came back.

_Tightly grit teeth against a searing pain that consumed her every thought…thick, sticky warm blood coating her body, terrifyingly slow, stumbling steps forward…a blurry look at the lake, the forest, a large group of orange clad people…the sensation of her knees giving way, her dizzy head colliding with the crisp grass… footsteps, firm hands, a worried masculine voice…_

Sighing at her predicament, Erin run a hand along her face as she realized her own clothes must be having her pints of blood washed out of them. Coming to think of it, her dark brown hair had been washed too, since it was cleaner than it had been in months. She patted the soft braid, wondering briefly if Annabeth had restored it to her preferred hairdo. The thought was both endearing and mildly off-setting.

Experimentally, Erin swung her legs over the edge of the bed and rolled onto her feet. She swayed a little, but her head was clear and a few teetering steps were all she needed to right her balance. She cracked her neck and reached down to touch her bare feet to stretch her back out. Her empty belly clenched on itself, crying out for food.

_Shut up, I'm working on it…_

To her pleasure, she found a pair of tennis shoes laid out at the foot of her bed and she slipped them on.

If it hadn't been for her growling insides, and the campers she could hear nearby, Erin would have been sorely tempted to make a dash for it, but knowing she'd never make it out without being caught, she stood her ground and gingerly slipped out of the door, down the hall, through a pair of elegant old fashioned doors, and finally out into an enormous pavilion with many large tables.

1, 2, 3…twenty in all. Twenty tables for twenty cabins…a lot of campers. No wonder Olympus worked so hard to keep Camp Half-Blood in line - it was quite an army to fear.

Awkwardly, she stood there, watching kids pile in to their tables, laughing and talking loudly. More teens were filing up the path to their midday meal. Annabeth's bobbing blonde head was in the mass, talking animatedly to a serious-looking buff guy.

Erin shifted her weight from one foot to the other, frantically wondering what she was supposed to do. Which table should she go to? All these people, great gods of Olympus, they would notice her any second…then would come the questions, the lies, the slip ups, the battle, the pain…

_Calm down, and think. They healed you, they aren't going to turn on you just like that…right? Oh, where to go, where to go?_

She wished she could run off to be alone, in silence, preferably in the woods…alone, in the moonlight…blissfully away from the eyes of so many kids how were now just beginning to notice her…

Instinctively, her right foot begin to slide forward, her muscles tensed to run, mind dancing with her escape options - when two hands clapped themselves on her shoulders from behind.

"Hey!" she yelped, jerking away from the touch and spinning around to see two identical boys, wearing matching grins and traditional orange camp shirts.

"Hi there," they chorused with a chuckle, taking a few steps back from Erin, who was still poised for attack. In fact, their grins grew only wider as Erin stared blankly back at them, mind still whirring at top speed to process what they had just said. The one on the left snickered.

"Little jumpy still? Sorry, didn't mean to scare ya," he said.

"Let's introduce ourselves? I'm Conner, that's Travis," said the other, poking his living replica in the chest as he introduced him.

"We're twins, Stoll brothers, Hermes head counselors, and a bit of a legend around these humble parts," Travis chirped cheekily, brushing his brother's finger away from his chest.

Erin thought she finally had a hold of her tongue again, but Conner continued smoothly where Travis had left off, leaving her no room to interject.

"Oh, don't worry, we know all about you and how you crashed Capture the Flag yesterday evening, Erin…Erin what? Annabeth mentioned you were unclaimed."

"What the – yeah, yeah, unclaimed, and just Erin. Nice to…meet you guys? I think?" she said, lowering her hands and giving them a hard stare. Her paranoia only seemed to amused the boys more.

"So, you, Sweetheart," teased Conner, wrapping an arm around her slender shoulders to lead her into the crowd, "…are going to sit with the Hermes Cabin, being unclaimed and all. Hermes's kids _are_ the hospitable ones, after all."

Erin stiffened, but followed obediently. Travis noticed and laughed lightly, pushing his flirty brother off of her.

"We don't bite, promise! Lighten up."

"Sure…" she mumbled as she followed new-found guides, who showed her to her food, before leading her over to a small fire. Erin hesitated, fork in hand, eyes glued to the flames, unsure of what to do.

Connor and Travis exchanged a glance.

"You give the gods some of your food, for respect and stuff," offered Travis.

"Here, like this," Connor said, leaning around her to push a chunk of his cheese of into the flames.

"For Hermes," he announced, flashing Erin a grin as a wonderful smell wafted back up, not at all how she would have imagined burnt cheese to smell. It smelled more like…new running shoes, and crisp papers…how odd.

"Normally you give some to your parent, but seeing as you don't know yours, you could politely ask they claim you," Travis explained, also pushing a portion of his food into the fire.

"Hermes," he repeated after his twin.

Erin still wavered, juggling her options.

Pissing off her mother was not a good idea…should she whisper her name so softly they couldn't hear? But if they did, she'd be in some serious hydra shit. Play dumb? Or was that disrespectful too…Erin had never been in this position before, and the idea of burning some of her food for neglectent mom was quite foreign indeed, but whatever she did, she had to pick fast.

"To my godly parent," she finally mumbled awkwardly, tipping a bit of food into the fire. The faintest whiff of wet pine needles touched her nose, but it was so brief and, Erin could almost pretend it was nonexistent.

"There ya go," encouraged Conner, leading the way to a particular table, full of rambunctious kids who all vaguely resembled the Stoll brothers.

"Hey there, troops!" Travis called out to them. The orange clad kids waved happily to their elder half-brothers, before locking their eyes on Erin, whose grip clenched around the edge of her plate.

With gusto, the brothers plopped down side by side on a bench, gesturing for Erin to take a seat next to them.

As quickly as she could, Erin jumped next to Conner, wishing they would all stop staring, for Zeus' sake…

"Aaaand, this is Erin," Travis pointed out, leaning around Conner to give her a nod. Erin blinked unmovingly.

"Hey Erin." "Hiya." "Hello," were the few responses. Erin gave a short wave, judgmentally scanning the faces around her. All happy, all well-fed, all bright eyed and bushy tailed with not a scar on their little pink bodies. Erin resisted the urge to curl her lip. Soft, coddled babies. What lucky constellations had been shining for them to be born to Hermes, a father who cared?

Conner shoved two spots out for himself and Erin, and she obliged, wanting to be ignored. Anything but all these eyes on her, it was unnerving and distracting to say the least. But within a few quick bites, she managed to forget the attention, relishing only in the joy of stuffing her face.

She crammed her mouth full with the delicious food, until she struggled to even chew properly, appreciating every morsel. Every scrap of protein and nourishment felt like heaven on earth to her starved body. In a few hasty swallows, her painful midsection had already ceased it's groaning, but she didn't stop to breathe until her entire plate had been picked clean. When she finally lifted her eyes back up to the table, feeling a lot heavier and content than a moment ago, Erin found all eyes were still on her, and a few mouths were hanging open.

"Damn," a scrawny-looking boy whistled in appreciation.

"Erin, this might be a wild guess, but were you hungry?" joked Connor, who nudged her in the side with his elbow.

Erin shrugged sheepishly, a small smile stealing across her face.

"Maybe," she drawled, earning a few giggles from her companions.

_This…this isn't so bad…_she mused cautiously, observing the Hermes' kids chow down on their own lunch. Her mind wandered, imagining the far off day dream of having a cabin of her own, friends she could count on…

After a second, she realized what she had just thought, and cursed her softness. Attachment was not only foolish, but dangerous. She had to leave at the first opportunity, before she had her mother breathing down her neck to keep her out of sight.

Besides, the Hermes' Cabin didn't want to restart the vicious cycle of having unclaimed, unwanted godly brats crowding up their cabin…not to mention she wasn't accustomed to having so many people around her all the time.

_Stick to the plan. Get in, get healed, get out as fast as she could scamper away. Less pain all around, and she'd never come back to explain._

* * *

><p>Once again, lunch time found Nico lounging on the frightfully empty Hades' cabin bench. Bored, he tossed a grape at his own face, opening his mouth and tilting his head back to catch it midair. The ripe fruit exploded in a burst of flavor in his mouth. Nico rolled his head back down to languidly sweep his gaze around the bustling Dining Pavilion.<p>

_Is Erin here?_ he pondered absent-mindedly. He'd asked Annabeth that morning, but she'd reported that a minor overdose of ambrosia had conked her out again, and at the time, she was just sleeping peacefully. _I wonder if she's woken up yet…_

He scanned the crowd for several moments, not sure where to look. Her location would entirely depend on her godly parent.

His eyes focused and locked on a petite figure, a long dark braid trailing down her back. She sported a CHB shirt now, but unmistakable.

_Hermes? Really?_Not his first guess to say the least…

He watched her flash a tentative smile at one of the Stoll brothers, who grinned broadly down at her, his playful siblings goofing off all around them. Nico quirked an eyebrow, throwing his head back again to catch another grape.

_Not what I had pegged her for in the least…_

A sudden chirp of joy made Nico swivel his head sharply around, cheek bulging with the yet un-popped grape. His eyes instantly landed on Annabeth, who was standing up with a huge grin, jumping happily into the arms of tall, muscular boy in a light green tee.

"Heya, miss me much?" Percy chuckled, wrapping his arms around his girlfriend. Annabeth pulled back to give him a peck on the cheek.

"Shut up, Seaweed Brain," she retorted. Percy rolled his eyes at the age-old nickname

"Get a room!" complained Clarisse, although with a good humored smirk. Hoots of laughter followed, and the reunited couple pointedly stuck out their tongues at their friends.

"All right, back to the tables," called Mr. D grumpily, sipping at a deep red liquid that looked suspiciously like wine. The couple stepped back and Percy sidled through the crowd, returning hello's and waving to friends as he pushed his way through to the centaur.

Nico slowly chewed and swallowed his grape as Percy's grin melt into a look of concern and seriousness that was uncharacteristic to see on him. Chiron listened intently as Percy spoke earnestly to him for a few minutes, before Chiron leaned over and whispered a few words in his ear. Percy nodded and rejoined the crowd, his usual happy-go-lucky smile once again appearing on his face, but Nico couldn't shake the feeling that his older friend was hiding something.

The Big Three's tables were all close together, so when Percy finally arrived at his, Nico was within calling distance to him.

"Yo, Percy-pie!" he called out.

His "Big Kid Cousin," (as some kids had dubbed them) followed his voice, bright green eyes lighting up in recognition.

"Nico, my man! How goes it?"

"All right. And your dad?"

"Eh, you know. Nice to get some real time with him for once. Tyson wanted to stay and fool around with the other Cyclopes, so he's staying for a bit," Percy replied, stuffing his face with food. Nico's eyes narrowed in concentration.

"So…what's up?" he asked, pushing away his empty plate and scooting a few feet across the bench to near himself to the son of Poseidon. Percy met his suspicious gaze with a wide eyed look of innocence, fork halfway to his mouth.

"AHEM - whaa?" he quipped, voice an octave higher than usual.

Good gods, he was honestly one of the worst liars Nico knew.

Nico locked the other dark-headed boy with an unamused stare. Percy shoved his fork into his mouth with a resigned sigh, rolling his sea green eyes back into his head in exasperation.

"Nico, you're impossible…" he mumbled grumpily around the utensil.

Nico's deadpan look didn't alter, and finally the older boy cracked.

"All right, all right, there's something going on, but you'll hear about it soon enough," he muttered darkly, casting a shifty glance to Chiron and Mr. D's table, before scooping up another bite.

"Hm," Nico grunted, picking up his fork and twirling it around his empty plate. Percy made sure to keep his mouth extra stuffed with food to avoid any further interrogation, but it was all just as well because their lunch ended in a few minutes anyway, but before all the campers could disperse to their Saturday activities, Mr. D called back the head counselors of all cabins, for an impromptu meeting.

Still chewing, Percy jerked his head at the camp director, silently declaring, _'See?'_

Nico bounced up and followed the select group of senior campers into the shadowy interior of the Big House. He squeezed into a stool around the ping pong table, Annabeth and Percy on one side, and Lou Ellen of the Hecate cabin on his other.

Mr. D lounged at the head of the table, looking angry and bored – per usual – and Chiron rolled up to the other side, horsy legs bound in wheelchair form. When it seemed clear Mr. D wouldn't be starting the meeting, Chiron cleared his throat and began.

"Well, as you all probably noticed, Percy is back,"

Everyone murmured in agreement.

"And he has a bit of troubling news. Poseidon sent back a message with Percy, about a sudden series of attacks and disappearances spreading eastward. Exact details on the attackers are vague, but all reports have a few details in common – a large, canine beast with amazing agility and strength. Clearly a monster, but surprisingly, the victims are not limited to demigods."

Chiron paused, letting his words sink in.

_Violent monster attacks, what else is new?_Nico was confused. How was this so important again?

"So, since all these attacks are similar, one can logically jump to the conclusion they are related. Olympus is concerned, and as am I and Mr. D."

All eyes swiveled to look at Mr. D, who was anything but concerned as he shot them all a dirty glare.

"Yeah, yeah, very concerned, mortals dying, blah blah," he snapped, swirling his drink around his cup.

"Yes," said Chiron dryly, "So, we've decided to send a group to follow the beasts' tracks."

This, is where he caught their interests. Of course, everyone was going to be pleading their case to get a spot on the mission team. Nico opened his mouth eagerly, but Chiron held up his hands in front of him in protest.

"Wait, wait, yes, you all want to go running off on an adventure, and I'm proud of your bravery," Chiron smiled wearily at the deflating campers, but before his next words could leave his mouth, a shrieking gasp filled the air.

Everyone turned sharply to see Rachel leaning against the doorway, mouth open wide, eyes rolled back into her skull, a green mist swirling from her drooping figure.

In an odd manner of lurching and gliding, Rachel practically threw herself into their midst, brushing past the first few rows of counselors, who scrambled out of the oracle's path. Nico also hopped off his stool and backed against the wall in an attempt to get out of the way, but to his utter surprise, as soon as he did, the possessed girl redirected her course to corner him. She grabbed him in a death-grip by the shoulders, leaning up to speak directly into his face.

Back flush against the concrete, dark eyes wide, hair ruffled, and mouth slightly agape, Nico was sure he looked absolutely cool receiving the prophecy. Yeah, real cool and manly. As manly as terrified five year caught with his hand in the cookie jar by his scary-ass mom. _Way to go, me._

_"Three shall voyage west, to the base of the throne._

_You shall discover the beasts, to fail hopelessly alone._

_The Broken Oath no longer outcast, you shall rely upon her past._

_Maidens of the moon hold the silver key, a dance with death to end in tragedy."_

Rachel rasped, her fingers tightening their grip around his shirt, before her lids shut over her blank eyes, and she tilted backwards. Just before she hit the ground, Percy jumped forward to catch her, and with Annabeth's help, they propped her unconscious body up on one of the stools.

Nico couldn't move a muscle, so all he did was gape wordlessly at Rachel. After a second though, his brain began to function again and he let out a soft breath, and maybe a curse word or two.

A lingering, sickly stench of the green fumes settled in his nostrils and threatened to steal his lunch from him right then and there, but a few gaspy breaths later and he found his insides ceasing their unhappy dance, thank Olympus.

He finally closed his mouth and took a step towards Rachel, whose frizz, red head was still drooped over. Gently, Percy used two fingers under her chin, but at that exact moment, their future-foreseeing friend opened her eyes widely, looking around in confusion.

"Ah…what am I doing down here?" she asked, more to herself than any of in the room Nico supposed, because she leapt to the correct answer before anyone could say anything, "Did I say something? What?"

Percy and Annabeth looked to Nico, and a quick glance around confirmed that the rest of the room was too.

"Uh, yeah," Nico muttered.

Rachel smiled ruefully at his tone of voice.

"Erm, I'm thinking a sorry is inline because, heh, you don't look so great." She looked back at Chiron. "But really, what's going on?"

Chiron nodded slowly, still looking at Nico.

"I do believe…you have selected the leader for our quest."

* * *

><p>Percabeth. Because everyone loves it. Don't even try to deny it.<p>

Yes, this story is moving slower than a snail on weed. Second chapter and they still haven't gotten out of Camp Half-Blood. Well, sorry folks, that's just they way I roll. Slow and steady wins the race after all :D

_Review please?_ It would really make my day!…Zeus' beard, have I sunk so far as to beg for reviews? Yes, it appears I have….


	4. Chapter 3: Second Impressions

"I do believe you selected the leader for our quest."

Nico stood stock still, staring wordlessly at Chiron's wise face. The rest of the room turned their gaze to him, waiting for him to speak. Painfully slow, he turned on his heels to face them, swallowed dryly, the ghost of a triumphant smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.

"All right then," he murmured, finally breaking the still spell Chiron had cast over them with his last sentence. Percy stepped away from Rachel, an odd mixture of jealousy and pride in his face.

"Well, looks like you landed yourself your first legit quest from camp," he mused, slapping Nico's shoulder affectionately. The younger boy flashed him a quick grin of thanks, before Chiron raised his voice again.

"All right, campers, since this mission just turned into a claimed quest, I'm going to have to lay down the law and ask that only those concerned stay."

His words were met with disappointed and loud protests. Chiron shook his head stubbornly.

"Nope, I mean it, off you all go. Except Nico and Rachel, and Percy and Annabeth can stay and help us sort this out. Oh, and of course you, Mr. D."

Still groaning and grumbling at being kicked out, the room slowly cleared. A few shouted their congratulations to Nico at receiving the quest. He nodded politely back, feeling a bit bad that Chiron had forced them to go after just dragging them in.

* * *

><p>With delicate steps, Erin slipped into the Big House, just barely catching a glimpse of the last cabin counselor stepping into their meeting room, and shutting the door.<p>

She'd excused herself from following the Hermes kids back to their cabin, coming up with the split second excuse of declaring she had left her belongings in the sick bay (when, really, she had nothing). They'd bought her easy lie entirely, and skipped merrily off to whatever activities they were occupied with. Probably some sort of elaborate prank, if she paused to wonder.

But she had more pressing matters on her hands. Her survival, for one. Information was the most powerful weapon one could possess, greater than any magic or sword or even godly blessing, information could be the difference between waking up in the morning…or arriving to Hades's earlier than anticipated.

Besides, living on her own very rarely offered the opportunity now presented, and if she was anything, Erin was an opportunist.

Seasoned with years of stealth, Erin soundlessly slithered up to the door. She pressed her ear against the wood, only to hear the chaotic murmuring of many voices. Unable to distinguish what they were saying, she abandoned that plan and crept away, peeking around the doorframe of the adjacent room.

She was greeted by an abandoned space, bare of decorations, and inhabited by only a few lonely foldable chairs, scattered about as if quickly abandoned.

_An indoor tutoring room_? she pondered as she tiptoed in. Disregarding the seating available, she went directly to the back corner, where her eye was caught by a pair of discreet white doors she had not previously noticed. Lightly, she fingered the little metal handle, before tugging them open. If luck was on her surprise…perhaps?

Not surprisingly, it was small, dark closet, which held more collapsible metal chairs, a broom, and mop, a rusty bucket, and a tattered white rag. Cautiously she slipped inside, and grinned with delight to discover a second set of door on the opposite wall. Quickly shutting the doors behind her, Erin enveloped herself in darkness, and slowly, ever so slowly, she stepped over the dirty bucket, holding her breath and feeling with her hands first before she put her foot down, determined not to make a noise. She settled herself against the set of doors leading to the meeting room, knees tucked to her chest, arms twisted oddly to make herself flatter in the small space, ear pressed firmly against the wooden barrier.

She allowed herself a small smile of pleasure, pleased with her ability to sneak into their private councils completely undetected, before dedicating her focus to the babblings in the next room.

The voice speaking was deep, very male, and carried the sort of weight that hid countless years of experience – Chiron. He was saying:

"…a message with Percy, about a sudden series of attacks and disappearances spreading eastward. Exact details on the attackers are vague, but all reports have a few details in common – a large, canine beast with amazing agility and strength. Clearly a monster, but surprisingly, the victims are not limited to demigods."

There was a pause where no one spoke. Erin's sudden euphoria at finding a listening spot crumbled. She'd overlooked an important detail – she couldn't see.

Chiron continued speaking after a second, however.

"Olympus is concerned, and as am I and Mr. D."

A scrape of stools ground against the concrete floor, followed by a grouchy voice, also male.

"Yeah, yeah, very concerned, mortals dying, blah blah," he snapped. Must be Dionysus, who'd she'd spotted at lunch with the centaur teacher.

"Yes," said Chiron dryly, "So, we've decided to send a group to follow the beasts' tracks."

Erin could almost hear the sudden jump in spirits, and for a second she thought everything was going to descend into jabbers of excitement.

_Pathetic! If you really want to go so badly, don't wait around here like an obedient dog!_

"Wait, wait! Yes, you all want to go running off on an adventure, and I'm proud of your bravery," Chiron's sentence however was interrupted by an ear piercing wail. Erin jumped against the bucket, causing a clatter that would have signaled her presence, had everyone not been paying attention to the screech, or more specifically, the screecher, whom Erin could not see.

Stumbling steps collided against the floor, and a sickly green mist curled under the edge of her door. Erin held her breath, panicking in the thought that it was poisonous, fanning it away from her mouth and nose the best she could from her cramped position.

Again, scrapes of chairs and stools filled their air and Erin's best guess was that campers were fleeing, until she realized there were no screams of panic. Could this be normal for them? Again, Erin cursed her lack of thought for not finding a hiding spot with a peep hole.

Her ADHD wanderings were brought back into focus when a thin, raspy voice – neither male nor female – ripped and shredded beyond definition, began to recite an odd chant that made the delicate hairs on the nape of Erin's neck stand erect.

_"Three shall voyage west, to the base of the throne._

_You shall discover the beasts, to fail hopelessly alone._

_The Broken Oath no longer outcast, you shall rely upon her past._

_Maidens of the moon hold the silver key, a dance with death to end in tragedy."_

With a last shuddering gasp, the voice died, and Erin heard the sound of something heavy being caught at the last second. The green mist dissolved and Erin took a deep breath, grateful but still wildly curious.

The silence in the next room over hung like heavy fog. Teeth clenched, Erin waited, very tempted to bash open the thin doors and make sure the weird voice hadn't killed them all.

"Ah…what am I doing down here?" asked a new person with a dazed feminine voice, "Did I say something? What?" she asked.

_What kind of question is that?_

"Uh, yeah," muttered yet another new voice. Masculine, not nearly as deep as Chiron's, and choked full of shock. Erin's face contorted in confusion as the voice rang an odd bell for her…had she met him at lunch?

"_Somebody hurry and do something, she's fading!"_

Erin struggled to grasp at the memory, but it too faded, leaving her feeling empty and annoyed. Maybe he had been one of the people who rushed to her aid last night? Reasonable, and logical, although still frustrating (and perhaps a tiche worrisome) that she couldn't put a face to the voice.

"Erm, sorry, I don't know what I did but you don't look so great," apologized the girl, whose tone was slowly edging into clarity, "But really, what's going on?"

Chiron spoke up again, his melodic voice rippling powerfully through the conversation, practically demanding respect.

"I do believe you selected the leader for our quest."

Erin would have paid quite dearly by now to be able to see the room she was eavesdropping on. _What for the gods' sakes were they talking about already?_ Who was the leader? Why was no one worried about the green mist and the horrible voice?

"All right then," the boy murmured, the first to break the silence Chiron had created with his dramatic sentence. A footstep echoed against the ground and someone slapped or patted someone else with the solid sound of flesh against flesh.

"Well, looks like you landed yourself your first legit quest from camp," yet another male voice mused. This young man however, Erin could place. He'd been the young adult to make a grand entrance at lunch, Annabeth's boyfriend by the looks of it…Percy they had called him?

Chiron raised his voice again.

"All right, campers, since this mission just turned into a _claimed_ quest, I'm going to have to lay down the law and ask that only those concerned stay."

As expected, the campers were not pleased. Their shouts and groans of disapproval, however, did not affect the hard-hearted Chiron.

"Nope, I mean it, off you all go. Except Nico and Rachel, and Percy and Annabeth can stay and help us sort this out. Oh, and of course you, Mr. D."

_And Erin,_ she sniggered to herself.

Many footsteps clattered away, although the complaints didn't die down until they all had left and shut the door behind them. Erin held her breath at several points, squeezing her eyes shut tight as many kids trampled inches within her hiding spot. Fortunately, no one was weird enough to want to leave the room through the double sided closet, and Erin remained tucked away.

"'_Three shall voyage west, to the base of the throne_,'" Chiron repeated in a thoughtful manner, "Clearly, this means you will have two companions."

"Going west," Percy added.

"Way to state the obvious, Percy," Annabeth's voice rang out for the first time, and Erin had no trouble recognizing her.

"What about the throne?" her boyfriend asked.

"Hard to say. From the use of the word, 'base,' I get the impression of a mountain, or it really could be a throne. There are plenty of landmarks and historical places in the west that one could loosely attribute the word 'throne' to, and you can never know with prophecies being so obscure," Chiron explained wordily. That's what you get for being a millennia old smarty pants horse.

Erin shifted the slightest bit in her cramped position. She was slowly losing feeling in her legs, and her ankles were screaming in protest at being held so awkwardly for so long.

"_You shall find the beasts, to fail hopelessly alone,_" Annabeth carried on.

"That line, I don't like," grumbled the first teenaged boy voice, the one who must have helped her. Erin thought back to the list of names Chiron had stated could stay, and realized he must be called Nico, being the only male name left.

"Any prophecy with the word 'fail' and 'hopelessly' sounds like trouble, especially when they are right next to each other," Nico complained.

"Not to mention the third word in that sequence, 'alone,'" Percy said offhandedly, "And let's not forget that this hopeless fail happens you find the beasts."

Erin rolled her eyes. Percy was awfully cheerful about dangerous sounding stuff. Did he have no common sense?

Erin's back ached and she longed to stretch it, but hearing the end of this was far more important to her than being comfortable. Besides, any movement would probably cost too much noise.

"_The Broken Oath no longer outcast, you shall rely upon her past,_" said the dazed female voice from before, sounding a lot more awake now. Rachel, Erin guessed.

"Sounds like the Broken Oath is a person – a she."

"How can a person be a broken oath?" asked Nico, puzzlement in his voice.

"I can think of many ways," snapped Mr. D, "Especially when you call her an outcast."

"Hm."

Erin's throat tightened, as she realized she could relate to the lonely story Mr. D was hinting at...An outcast from society, a leftover from a broken oath…all painfully familiar story for Erin to hear.

"_Maidens of the moon hold the silver key, a dance with death to end in tragedy,_" Annabeth quoted.

"Maidens of the moon. I'm going to go ahead and call hunters," Percy said.

_Hunters_. Erin's upper lip curled bitterly.

"Again, going for the obvious, but I can't help but agree with Seaweed Brain over here," agreed Annabeth. Percy made no audible retort to the hidden insult, and Erin internally facepalmed at their lovey-dovey teasing. Nauseating.

"Aaand, silver stuff is their thing," Rachel added.

Erin tried to crack her neck to relive the tension in her spine, but couldn't twitch her neck at the right angle. By now, her knees, ankles, hips, and shoulders were tingling with pain from being twisted this long.

"'A dance with death to end in tragedy'? What sort of mumbo jumbo stuff is that?" Mr. D grouched, "That's just rhyming nonsense, I bet the oracle just ran out of things to say that made sense."

"The oracle most certainly does NOT just say stuff because it rhymes! It makes sense somehow, we'll just have wait and see," Rachel's voice was extraordinarily defensive, and Erin wondered how she was so connected to the - OH. Oh yes. Of course it all made sense. How could she have not seen it before? Rachel must be the oracle's embodiment. The Oracle of Apollo, she'd heard great legends and passing mention in her rare talks with her mother.

"Another great word to hear, 'tragedy,'" moaned Nico softly, but Erin heard it nonetheless. _He's a bit of a whiner_.

No one responded, obviously knowing there was no comfort to be had in the face of such stark words.

Suddenly, someone jumped to their feet, stool bashing violently around with the motion.

"Oh!" came Annabeth's high pitched quip of excitement. No one moved or said anything for a long moment, and the sound of sneakers swiveling on concrete met her ears.

"Erin!" she exclaimed, voice high with excitement.

Erin could have sworn her heart stopped beating. Had she been caught? How did they know? She hadn't moved! What would she say, what would be her far fetched excuse for curling up in their janitor closet?

The sound of quick footsteps made her blood run cold, but after a second, she realized with a rush of relief that they were actually headed in the opposite direction.

"You remember what she said? She was attacked by a big monster and barely got away with her life! Maybe it was one of the monsters we are talking about?" Annabeth said. Erin's eyes widened, wondering if she had a point. But her attention was swiftly diverted by a truly terrifying fact:

_Oh Styx…STYX, I'M GOING TO SNEEZE_

"You could have a point there. Although, the monsters we speak of don't leave survivors…although there is the slim chance that Erin was the first. Where is she now?" Chiron rumbled.

Erin held her breath, willing the sneeze to move on, to pass by. The twitchy, itchy sensation however only grew worse, and she couldn't even get a hand around to rub it away.

"I suppose with the Hermes Cabin; she ate lunch with them," deduced Annabeth.

Erin tensed, squeezing her eyes shut, face scrunched in an effort to keep it back. Just as she thought she had a chance to keep it in, she sneezed, but kept her mouth closed, sending the force through her body. Her back collided against the rusty bucket while her hands thumped loudly against the door.

_AH, HYDRA SHIT!_

Erin sucked up another breath and held it in terror, slowly opening her eyes. Her heart sank and she knew that her commotion had been far too noisy for the other not to hear. She was proved woefully correct when she heard a light tread approaching the closet. The person stopped right in front of the doors, and Erin could see the shadow of feet against the light seeping through the crack under the door.

With a smooth jerk, the doors creaked open outward. Erin was flooded in the electric light illuminating the windowless room. She almost winced, but instead threw her head up defiantly to face her discoverer.

She locked glares with a teenage boy dressed all in black, about her age, with dark olive skin, a mop of shaggy black hair, sharp, dark eyes full of bewilderment. Agile, willowy body, and the stance of a close combat fighter.

Her attention was drawn back up to his glittering black eyes as they narrowed into slits.

"…Erin?" said Annabeth's voice from behind the dark boy, who stepped out of the way to reveal her into the full light of the room.

Inhaling a deep breath, Erin pushed herself out of a crouch. She took a stiff step past the boy, making no eye contact. He was the least of her concerns.

Dionysius lounged in the corner nearest her and the boy, an ugly, contemptful snarl twisting his face.

Annabeth and Percy were across a ping pong table, both with their mouths slightly agape. Annabeth looked like she wanted to say something, but couldn't form the correct words in her mouth.

A goofy looking chick with frizzy red hair and tattered, color stained jeans was seated nearby, eyes were wide and curious. Rachel, Erin realized.

But Chiron was the worst. His expression was surprised, and tinged with a disappointment that irked her. Really – if you let a total stranger wander freely throughout your home, you deserve what's coming to you. They had no way of knowing if she was an enemy spy, or even worse! Just because the Titan War had been won didn't mean there weren't still plenty of people, and even _things_, who would love to see the end of Demigod Daycare. Their negligence and over-confidence would be their downfall, and Erin wouldn't think twice to say, "I told you so."

She pursed her lips and looked away from the self-righteous pony, and took a second look at the dark boy, who must be Nico. He, as they all were, was still staring. When he saw her finally glance his way, he crossed his arms across his chest, frown lines deepening.

"Erin?" said Chiron quite simply, and quite calmly.

They didn't want to hear her opinion, and they most certainly didn't deserve it. She would gain nothing through helping them, and therefore it would be a waste of effort. None of which she had to spare.

"Yeeess?" she quipped back.

"You low-life, _filthy_ little spy," began Mr. D, but Chiron spliced through the beginning of what most assuredly would have been a foul-mouthed rant that _probably_ would have ended in Erin's transformation into a dolphin.

"Surely, you must have realized this was a private conversation?" the centaur asked.

No, duh.

"…yes."

"I must insist that eavesdropping is very much frowned upon at Camp Half-Blood. And…your actions will not go without consequences," Chiron said slowly.

This – this stole her attention. She straightened immediately and drew her brows together in question.

"Uh…come again?"

Chiron shook his heavy head.

"I'm afraid so. You've been welcomed into camp, your injuries cared for, and treated as one of us. As such, it is only fair you be treated as one of the campers."

Erin's jaw clenched. What was that saying the humans used again? "No such thing as a free lunch"? If the situation hadn't been so in the present, she might have been able to find the irony amusing.

As it was, she could barely contain herself when Nico lightly snorted from behind. This time, it was her turn to narrow her eyes as he shrugged ever so slightly, a pretend wince of sympathy crossing his features. Immature, little brat.

"What that punishment will be…" Chiron continued, dragging her attention back to him, "…we can yet discuss. At a later time."

There were a million things Erin could have said – all of which would have been censored on public television. Her best plan of action was to say nothing and dip her head to hide the grimace.

_Humiliating..._

Finally, praised by Zeus, someone else spoke.

"Well, what's done is done…" began Percy cautiously.

"But…the monster? Monsters?" Rachel finished.

Erin looked up again, carefully neutral, trying to gauge if now was a good time to appease them, or run. Annabeth met her eyes encouragingly.

"Could you describe the attack, if you don't mind."

Well…whatever. She was on no one's side and, hey: maybe they would even be able to get their act together and destroy the monster for her. So, she obligingly nodded and closed her eyes to concentrate, ignoring Dionysius' grumblings about stupid demigods and their whiny lives.

"Let's see…I was about three miles west of here two nights ago. I was just minding my own business, passing through, when I hear these really heavy paw steps. I'm pretty good at tracking and reading animals, so I managed to dodge it for a while, but eventually, it caught up to me. It was big. REALLY big, like…"

She paused, opening her eyes, and waving her arms around to illustrate her point.

"You couldn't fit more than one in this room. I couldn't see much, because it was night, but it was hairy, and dirty, and smelled like a wet dog," she crinkled her nose at the thought.

"It got me with its claw – that's how I got ripped up so bad. Sliced right down my shoulder and across my torso," Erin said, mimicking the downward sweep of the claws across her body.

Percy, Rachel, and Annabeth made the appropriate noises of sympathy pain, while Nico remained stoic. Or apathetic. Probably both. Erin continued, not bothered by the hostile boy behind her.

"I should probably be dead, but the adrenaline kept me going. Even so - I don't think I killed it. Or at least it wasn't dead when I left it, just injured enough I could get away. I stumbled along the next day, getting…well, really lost and trying to find something I could bandage myself with. Barely made it to you guys, before I passed out," she ended, flourishing both hands as her finale.

"I see," said Chiron, "Could very well be one of the monsters we need to end."

"Ok, how did it fight? Could it talk?" Percy pipped up again, head cocked in interest like a puppy.

Erin hesitated, one finger drifting to her lips in thought.

"Mmmm, no. It growled and roared, and…_sometimes_ it sounded almost like English – but it didn't talk. It just attacked with brute strength. And, man, it was really strong. It could leap a pine tree, easy."

"All right…very interesting indeed," mused Chiron.

Nico airily brushed past Erin to get back into the circle of conversation.

"Yeah, yeah, great and all, but knowing they are big and ugly doesn't change much. I still have a problem on my hands – who am I taking with me and when can we leave?" he asked, flicking his long bangs out of his eyes, like some sort of obnoxious boy band member.

Erin's lips twitched in anger at his abrasive attitude. Oh ho, watch out everyone, bad ass straight from Demigod Daycare coming through.

"Excuuuuse yourself," she said icily, nudging him out of her line of vision again. Nico gave her a look, as if she was some sort of buzzing insect.

"I know you are," he muttered darkly, falling back a step to avoid maintain his snooty little personal bubble. Erin glowered up at him a second longer, but unfortunately, he didn't break before Chiron interrupted them.

"Nico, Erin, enough."

Erin's self discipline was put to the test not roll her eyes and they stepped apart. He's not worth it, she assured herself. _Besides, why dig myself a deeper grave? Be the mature one, don't let your temper get the best of you…_

"Thank you," Chiron continued, as if they had had a choice, "An in answer to your question, Nico, I suppose you should leave as soon as possible. We'll discuss who you decide to ask in private." he said decidedly.

Percy, Annabeth, and Rachel took this as their polite cue to leave. Erin followed en suite, sidling around the stools to scamper out the doors with the older teens. Dionysius grunted something about not wanting to hear anymore and disappeared in purple poof that smelled strongly of sun-soaked grapes.

The four stopped just outside the door, arranged in a misshapen circle.

"Well, I'm off. I was sorting through letters from home when I woke up down here," Rachel moaned exasperatedly. Percy offered a sympathetic look. Erin didn't ask.

As the redhead bounced off, the young couple's attention was undividedly on Erin.

"So, I'd say you should get back to the Hermes' cabin," Annabeth said in a tone that was clearly more of a warning than a suggestion.

Erin sucked a deep breath through her nostrils, determined not to let her anger with Chiron or any other dim-witted demigod win over her senses. She was better then that, she was so better than that...

"Where are they?" she asked cooly.

"I'll show ya," offered Percy, who already turned to stride confidently out of the Big House. Erin tossed the blonde Athenian a little wave of goodbye before hurrying to catch up with Percy's long steps.

It was a quick walk from the Big House to Hermes' cabin. As the duo entered their doors, it was sorely obvious that the campers had quickly whisked something under the beds. Percy raised an eyebrow suspiciously, but turned around quickly, waving his hands in front of his eyes in protest.

"Ignorance is bliss!" he called after as he jogged away, probably to meet back up with Annabeth.

The kids snickered but didn't take out their unknown project again. Instead, they remained in their poses of innocence, blinking up at Erin. She tensed awkwardly, sensing how uncomfortable and awkward her intrusion was.

"Hey," she managed. Nobody really responded for quite a few seconds, abandoning her to the spotlight. 15 years old and unclaimed? Unheard of. She was a spectacle, a circus attraction, an anomaly – but most importantly – an outsider. Whatever bond of comradery she had felt during lunch had vanished…or maybe she had only imagined it in a fit of loneliness.

A desperate glance around the room didn't reveal Connor or Travis, her jester guardian angels, so she settled for sliding herself into a seat on the floor on the edge of the group of kids lolling around their living space. A few smiled in her direction, but whether the gestures were out of pity, politeness, or even curiosity, Erin couldn't tell.

But, if she was going to be quite frank with herself: it was probably her fault. Her lifestyle had made her who she was - strong, independent, and capable…and proud, and abrasive, and short tempered. Unconsciously she was probably pushing them away and didn't even realize it.

Kids came and left, off to meet various friends and do activities, but Erin stayed in the cabin, quietly observing the shenanigans on the side lines.

_Tonight,_ she promised herself, _I'll get away. Screw Chiron and whatever punishment he thinks I'm going to be dished. Maybe I'll be able to snag some of that ambrosia and nectar. When they wake up tomorrow the morning, I'll be gone and out of their hair. And I can get on with…surviving. Running._

She ignored the lonesome tug in her chest as she watched the kids interact and tease each other.

_I'm strong, I don't need people in my life, especially not these pampered babies. They would only get in my way,_she told herself firmly.

Finally, her ADHD had had enough, and she needed to do something. She stood up to stretch her cramped legs and wandered out into the warm afternoon sun to have a look around.

She was in a large cluster of uniquely decorated cabins all obviously belonging to particular gods. Campers mingled around here, and not feeling particularly chatty, Erin hurried away, taking a random looking path, which took her to a flaming climbing wall. She watched in bewildered awe as demigods scampered up and down, dodging the pools of molten lava oozing all around them.

…_intense._

She continued on her way, admittedly getting kind of lost, and ending up back in front of the Big House. Erin wavered, wondering if she could go in and see if her clothes were clean yet. She didn't want to leave in this ridiculously bright orange shirt and these girly little shorts.

Deciding to seize the moment, she charged right on in, relishing in the cool air as she stepped through. She paused, looking both ways down the hallway.

_Which way would she find her clothes?_

Aimlessly, she meandered into the recesses of the house, peering at every open doorway, still with no sign of a living soul. Almost instinctually, her feet carried her back to the Sick Bay where she had woken up hours ago. She stepped in, to find her bed had already been made back up to perfection, indistinguishable from the many other cots.

Erin finally stopped, absently biting on her bottom lip, wondering where to look next, when a set of footsteps suddenly began to approach. She took a few light steps back to the doorway and stuck her head around the frame.

A lowered head rounded the corner, followed by its lanky owner. Irritatingly familiar. Erin considered retreating back into the Sick Bay to pretend she hadn't seen Nico coming, but that option of escape was smashed to pieces as said boy lifted his head, dark eyes immediately focusing on Erin's half-revealed figure leaning around the doorway.

A flicker of annoyance crossed over his otherwise neutral features.

"There you are. Where you shouldn't be. Again," he snapped dryly, coming to a stop a few feet away.

With a lazy air, Erin propped her shoulder against the wall, throwing him a challenging look.

"Not your problem, now is it?"

"Good _gods_, I wish it wasn't," Nico growled, breaking eye contact and shoving his hands deep into his pockets. Erin raised her eyebrows in confusion. His body language was entirely changed since she'd last seen him. An hour ago, he'd literally not spared her a glance, and now suddenly she was worth the effort to speak to?

"What?" she asked, forgetting their spat in her genuine curiosity.

With a muffled sigh, Nico lifted his head again.

"I've got some unfortunate news."


	5. Chapter 4: Dirty Tactics

We all have those days. Those days when your entire world gets turned upside down and on it's head. And then maybe someone chucks it into a blender for good measure. Only, Nico hadn't been sure if the result was a delicious paradise smoothie with a side of glory, or a heaping serving of frothing fruit basket vomit until a couple minutes ago.

"You want me to what now?" Nico yelped.

Chiron's patient face didn't falter, but his ancient eyes looked just a little more tired and lack-luster than usual.

"Nico, please, be rational."

"You can't be serious. You – you just can't! We have over two hundred campers who would _cut off _their_ sword arm_ for a quest – and you want me to bring the dirty little runaway? I mean, we have no idea who she is, or even who her godly parent is! How do you know she won't stab us in our sleep?" Nico folded his arms across his chest, watching the passive centaur in front of him.

"Nico…" Suddenly, he sighed, and passed a weathered hand across his face, "Nico, you have to understand. After someone has lived as long as I have, seeing the same, horrible, _horrible_ things happen to thousands of generations of demigods…" He trailed off, staring into his hands at something Nico couldn't, and wouldn't ever see. Respectfully, he waited for him to find his train of thought again.

"What I'm trying to say, Nico, is yes. Every one of the campers would dearly love to accompany you on your quest, but that's entirely beside the point. I would never say that Percy didn't do the right thing when he ended the Titan War, but his choice did have consequences. The consequence being our experienced and qualified demigods are outnumbered 3 to 1 by the new recruits."

Nico blinked, waiting for him to deliver the convincing argument. He already knew everything Chiron was telling him. They were the very reasons he was here in the first place. Chiron must have seen he wasn't getting through, because he carried on with a rush.

"Look, I can't force your hand in choosing your quest partners. I'm just your mentor, and the most I can offer is advice. But please, listen. Actions will _always_ have consequences. Just as with Percy. The same goes for myself, for you, and for Erin. You're right, I know very little about her, nothing worthy of trusting her – "

Nico began to open his mouth to agree, but Chiron left him no opening.

"Save one - she trusted us first. We were her last resort…her knights in shining armor. She's fierce, to be sure, and she's has quite the tongue on her, but really, Nico - can you see yourself letting her stab you in the dark of night?"

Nico paused, letting Chiron's wounds sink in. Perhaps…he had a valid point. It would take a really specific breed of filth to sink to that level. And it was almost impossible to sneak up on him in his natural element…

Chiron let him stand in silence and digest his words.

"Well…" Nico finally managed, "As usual, you have a point."

Chiron dipped his head and raised a hand in protest.

"I only want what's best for the campers."

And that was the final blow.

Kind, wise Chiron would only _ever_ suggest he bring Erin, if he thought it was in the _very_ best of everyone's interest. Not just his own, petty desires or interests. Not like Nico di Angelo, son of Hades, whose fatal flaws was and always has been grudges. Ancient law wouldn't let Chiron assign his fellow questers, and regardless, he would want them to grow and make their own decisions. But who was he to say he could make a better decision than a centuries old centaur?

Nico leaned back onto the ping pong table in defeat.

"Ugghh…fine, fine." Finally, Chiron smiled.

"But!" Nico continued, holding out a hand for silence, "Well, caaaall me crazy, but I don't think little miss Erin is the biggest fan, if you catch my drift," he snapped, maybe a tad too sarcastically for politeness's sake.

But Chiron merely chuckled.

"Worry not, I have a few tricks up my sleeve. I can talk to her at a later point in time. Right now, we need to discuss who you would like to bring as your last companion."

Nico straightened. Finally, his own choice. Not being the most traditional of campers, Nico hadn't spent elaborate hours dreaming of his own quest and companions, but the name flew off his tongue without hesitation.

"Percy."

"Aahh, brave Percy. An undoubtedly excellent choice, but consider the team already assembled. Yourself, an experienced sword master, fearsome tactician, and one of the Big Three. And Erin, whose very existence stands as tribute to her individual strength, wits, and survival skills. Do you really need another power house?"

Nico considered this. Again, point to Chiron. If this was a Mythomagic competition, he'd be in a rough spot now.

"All right…who do you suggest?"

"No, no, no. I don't think that would be wise at all for me to chose both your accompaniments. Just as food for thought before you make your final decision. If you wouldn't mind, sending Erin to me if you see her? Oh, and I'll be expecting the name of your final recruit before dinner!"

Nico nodded. He'd better get a move on then. Walking with purpose, he swept out of the room and into the Big House - before suddenly coming to a halt. What was he even doing? The idea that last night, he had been merely kicking butt at capture the flag seemed too far away from the demanding matter in his face now.

Slowly, and without much attention to where he was going, he climbed the stairs, the stillness ringing in his ears, until suddenly as he reached the top and a creak on floorboards that was not his own caught his attention.

Sharply he looked up, only to see the one and only: Erin. What – what was she even doing in here? She was supposed to be with the Hermes campers! If she couldn't take orders…this was going to be a looong trip.

_Better be worth it, Chiron._

"Oh. There you are. Where you shouldn't be. Again," Nico said dryly.

Erin leant her weight against the doorframe with an air of indifference.

"Not your problem, now is it?" she sneered.

"Good _gods_, I wish it wasn't," Nico snapped before he could stop himself.

As undesirable a companion she was, he was going to have to work with her. If they were going to trust each other, fight with each other, they were going to need at least a degree of civility. This was no way to start a quest.

However, Erin didn't seem angered by his comment – rather, intrigued.

"What?" she asked.

Nico lifted his eyes from the floor.

"I've got some unfortunate news."

Erin held his gaze expectantly, lips parted in anticipation, but Nico hesitated, unwilling to actually put voice to the words.

"You are to, I mean I'm supposed to – we – " he ran a hand across his eyes, and sighed heavily. When he looked again, Erin's brows were drawn together in impatience. Nico choked.

"Uh. You need to go talk to Chiron. Now,' he stammered, resorting to his previous errand. He couldn't he just couldn't bring himself to request her presence to her face. Quests were the sacred epitome of their tradition. It was supposed to be an honor. The idea of her scoffing at his invitation was unthinkable.

Erin stared for several moments longer, hazel eyes roving his poker face judgmentally.

"…you're a weird little dude, aren't you?"

Hypothesis, correct. She was a rude, snotty little outcast without the slightest clue of how to behave herself. No wonder her godly parent had abandoned her, she was hopeless. Nico's upper lip curled, and he took two steps closer and drew himself up to his full height, forcing her to look up to hold his glare.

"'_Little'_ isn't the word, I would have chosen," he murmured in a dangerously low voice. Erin didn't bat an eyelash.

"Is that so?" she breathed, moving forward and narrowing the gap between their bodies to mere inches, close enough for him to count each healing nick on her pale skin. Nico blanched and rolled back on his heels, suddenly uncomfortable. Unfortunately, and to his everlasting embarrassment, Erin noticed. She chuckled softly, lids half-lowered in coy amusement, before brushing past him and towards the stairs. He shuffled quickly out of the way, turning just in time to see the end of her braid whisking around the corner.

Peeved, Nico sucked a breath between his teeth. _Oh, Chiron…this better be __**really**__ worth it._

Just to be sure of not encountering her again, he waited an extra minute before finally heading after. He passed the door to the meeting room, and admittedly paused debating on listening in. But integrity…and _maaaaybe_ the desire not to hear Erin's voice right now won out, and he moved on.

The light of day was a harsh contrast from the dimly lit halls of the Big House. Nico squinted, peering through his lashes at the cabins in the distance. Somewhere out there – unsuspectingly going about his daily life – was his final companion. The missing piece of his little team.

He sighed and ran a hand through his bangs. Where was he supposed to start? With Chiron's advice? Well, now that he had a moment to consider…he was probably right. If his interaction with Erin a few minutes ago had been any indication, there was no more room for another hot head, and although Percy meant well, following orders had never been his strong suit. A troublesome weakness, especially if this was going to be Nico's quest. He was going to call the shots, and if both of his companions ignored him, chaos would ensue.

So, he was going to have to find a gentler temperament.

Secondly, he or she needed experience, which was harder to come by each summer that passed, as more and more new demigods arrived. And, more specifically, he needed someone with a skill set that would compliment his.

Nico sank down at the Hades' dining table, despondent. All right, _now_ all the quester had to do was materialize in front of him and they could take off into the sunset, because truth be told – he didn't know many other demigods. He'd been at camp for no more than two weeks, and he always had preferred staying to himself.

Mellow, level headed, skilled warrior, and quick witted in the face of danger…

Suddenly, Nico's head shot up. Of course. It was obvious.

He found the Apollo cabin at the archery range, but there was no surprise there. For a moment, he simply admired the group from a distance, unable to distinguish any individual, just watching flock after flock of black arrows soaring from uniform rows of archers. Gingerly, he picked his way around the back of the group, and found the son of Apollo he was looking for at the end of the row.

A bead of sweat trickled down his clenched jaw, his chapped lips pursed against the feathered tip of his arrow, the tendons in his arms tensed. Tristan inhaled softly, pulled his bow back to the fullest extent, and released the arrow with a sharp zing. Peering down the firing range, Nico raised his eyebrows, impressed at the sight the still quivering shaft, embedded dead center in the dummy's chest.

A small smile flitted over Tristan's lips, but before he could notch another, Nico stepped forward.

"Tristan?"

He turned, startled.

"Oh! Hi, um, Nico was it?"

"Yeah, Nico."

Tristan lowered his bow and wiped his forehead with the back of one hand.

"What's up?" he asked cheerfully, when suddenly, he blanched, as if a horrible thought had struck him. "Oh gods, is it that girl? Is she ok?"

Nico shook his head quickly.

"No, no, she's fine. She made a full recovery." _Regrettably. _"I just was wondering if we could talk for a second."

"Yeah. Yeah, of course."

Tristan dropped his quiver and bow and followed him away from the shooting range. Once they were out of hearing distance of the blond's siblings, Nico stopped and faced him.

"All right, here's the deal: remember the announcement they made at lunch? Long story short, I've just found myself leading a quest that is scheduled to leave as soon as possible."

At the word "quest," Tristan perked up like a blood hound with a scent and his blue eyes widened.

"And – and you want me?"

"Yes."

A grin split Tristan's face.

"Gods, yes!" he fist pumped in a strange little victory dance. Nico watched, one eyebrow quirked. Tristan quickly composed himself and straightened, face serious.

"All right! Thank you, I'm deeply honored. But, I have to ask…why me? I mean," he spread his arms out to gesture at the camp, "You have hundreds of campers to choose from, not to mention many old friends who you surely must trust in battle."

Nico nodded curtly.

"I know, but I've seen enough. You performed admirably in the crisis last evening, have attended more summers than the majority of our recruits, and I've just witnessed your skills with a bow myself."

Tristan dipped his head, but Nico continued.

"All that said, there was another reason. I chose you specifically because of who I was…_advised_ to select as our other quester."

"…being?"

"The girl, Erin."

Tristan's blond eyebrows shot into orbit.

"Come again?"

Nico grimaced and shoved his hands into his pockets.

"Um, yeah. That's a long story. Let's just say…she's a bit of a handful and I'll need a steadier head to trust."

Tristan nodded slowly, mulling over his words.

"I thiiiink I understand what you're trying to say."

Nico rolled his eyes disdainfully.

"Uh huh. You'll understand _perfectly_, probably sooner than you'd like. Come on, let's walk."

* * *

><p>With sharp, jerky movements, Erin wrapped her fist around the shaft of her arrow and yanked it out of the tree trunk, grunting in a release of exasperation. The wounded, mutilated tree bark gaped back at her. Erin fixed it with a hard stare of bitter satisfaction before turning and stomping back to her discarded bow.<p>

She started to bend down to retrieve it to fire another round of shots into the defenseless trees, but the frustration won over, and she instead chucked the arrow at her feet and let loose a gusty sigh.

The quiet of the woods was only disturbed by the distant clamor of campers lining up for dinner. Here, in her pocket of solitude, she was alone with her thoughts, her bow, and her anger.

Who did Chiron think he was? She bared her teeth in a soundless snarl and aimed a kick at a pile of rotting leaves, the ancient centaur's words ringing in her skull.

"_Hey. Nick said…Nijo…ugh, whatever-his-face. The scrawny dude said__I'm supposed to talk to you_ a_gain. What is it?"_

"_I promised we would discuss your punishment at a later point in time. An, there's no time like the present."_

"_Oookay, no more cheesy one liners, please, and I'll try to concentrate on what you're saying, rather than what century you're from."_

_"Fair enough. You want to cut to the chase. Nico di Angelo is leading a quest, to discover who or what is responsible for the beast's attacks, and, to end them. He has agreed that you are to accompany him."_

_"Uh, wow, ok. How about, no?"_

_"He thought you would say that, and frankly, so did I, although I had hoped you might…cooperate of your own accord."_

_"Fat chance."_

_"Please, Erin, drop the act. I know perfectly well what your intentions were from the moment you stumbled in here. I'm afraid I simply can't let you back out on your own again. Firstly, it would be against the oath Olympus swore, secondly, to my duty as protector of this camp, and thirdly, because it is truly unsafe" _

_"Says who? Don't underestimate me, Chiron."_

_"Times are rapidly changing, and even a fighter like yourself isn't going to survive on her own. Especially one without the safety net of a godly parent…"_

Erin sucked a deep breath through her nose, trying to calm herself. Pressing her back against young pine, she stared up at the sunset peeping between the branches above her. The sky was a deep orange, tinted purple around the edges by the steadily increasing lack of sun. Almost exactly 24 hours to the minute from her near death experience at the border.

This morning she had been correct. She would be leaving this damned place by nightfall. but not how she had expected, not how she had wanted. No, she'd be towing two spoiled little demigods behind her, chasing smoke and demons and monsters until either they or their quarry were dead.

Not her idea of escape.

Not at all.

She lingered for several moments longer, not waiting to face anyone at dinner quite yet. She'd be spending enough time with them in the near future as it was. These might be her last moments of solitude for many weeks to come. This morbid thought brought an audible groan to her lips, and she slammed her head back against the bark a few times in denial.

"_Oh yeah? What do you think you could **possibly** say to convince me to baby sit your little charges?"_

"_Firstly, none of the campers are not my charges. You are in no position to judge Nico, or any of the others. You know nothing about them, about their pasts, about why they are…the way they are."_

"_Pft, I couldn't care less."_

"_Your pride will be your downfall if you're not careful, Erin. And like it or not, you are now one of us. You always belonged here, your parentage automatically makes you one of us."_

"_I want nothing to do with you people. I think I've made that clear."_

"_Just our ambrosia."_

"…_low blow, Chiron."_

"_It can't have been easy. Living on your own for so long…select few could have survived such an ordeal. You knew where we are located. You would have come to us sometime ago, wouldn't you have? But something was stopping you…something more pressing than your own comfort. Only at your most desperate time, minutes away from death, did you finally come to us."_

"_Stop, stop now."_

"_What was it? What could have been so important?"_

"_Chiron."_

"_I'm sorry. That was a bit much, but I need to get through to you. But, my point being made – Erin. Would you like to tell me who your mother is now?"_

Erin looked up from forest floor, finding that she had sank to her knees in thought. Absently, she ran a hand through the dry needles, trying to swallow the uncomfortable ball of acid burning in her stomach. So fast, everything was happening so fast, and she couldn't get a grip on it. And it scared her. It scared her witless, and she hated it. Her whole life had been one stagnant battle in solitude. In 24 hours, 24 fleeting hours, her entire future had been rearranged. Her deepest secrets thrust into a spotlight, her anonymity stripped from her, and a challenge she couldn't even begin to attack on her plate.

She closed her eyes, crumbling the dry needles between her fingers into powder as a sudden gust of wind scattered them. Laughter and the clanking of silverware reached her ears, and she knew she had no more time to spare.

Up and at 'em, Erin – it was show time.

* * *

><p>Chiron, the miracle worker. Really, it was a fitting title considering the news he brought. Now Nico was seriously regretting not trying harder to listen in on his conversation with Erin, because maybe he could have picked up a few tricks in handling the wild child. Through some sort of divine intervention, dark witchcraft, or pure blackmail, Chiron had convinced Erin to accept his "invitation." Although what means the centaur had used, he was unwilling to share.<p>

"In good time," he had chuckled at Nico's aghast expression.

Good time being in less than ten minutes by Nico's calculation. The sun had already disappeared under the horizon, and the remaining edges of pink in the sky were rapidly vanishing, while the shadows of the forest, hills, and cabins were stretching and distorting, blanketing Camp Halfblood in twilight. Nico watched apathetically as the shade of Thalia's old tree reached for him, pooling beneath his sneakers like a well-trained dog, waiting for his command. However, he ignored it, training his gaze outward towards the trail that led from the camp.

He had skipped dinner, saying he needed the extra 45 minutes to prepare their supplies, and because he probably couldn't have choked down anything on his stomach of nerves. He had turned his back on this camp countless times now, and the road was no longer a scary place, but this time he was going to be responsible for two other people. It wasn't just his own life he was taking into his hands, he was taking the lives of total strangers as well, who should be arriving very shortly.

Just at that moment, a silhouette broke the peak of the hill. A few paces closer and Tristan's masculine frame emerged, dressed in a thick orange hoodie and carrying a pack. Nico wondered vaguely where his bow was hidden.

"Hey man!" he called cheerily, jogging the last several yards over, grin in place, "Ready to rumble?"

Nico pursed his lips into a thin, forced smile.

"Yeah. Rumble away."

Tristan bounced to a stop, backpack jingling, and bright expression unaffected by Nico's lack of enthusiasm.

"Erin coming?" Nico asked.

"I think so. I saw Percy taking her to weapons storage," he paused, shifting his weight from one foot the other, unable to meet Nico's eye. Nico titled his head in question, waiting silently for him to spit if out.

"Uh. It…I'm a little confused."

"Do tell."

"Is…is Erin a hunter?" he suddenly spluttered.

Nico blinked, taken aback.

"What?"

"I mean, maybe that's why she was running! She could be a dishonored hunter!"

"Slow down, Tristan, what are you talking about?"

"Tonight at dinner, she sat all alone at the hunters' table. Everyone saw, everyone was staring, and she left the moment she finished eating. I didn't even get a chance to introduce myself."

Nico stared blankly, mouth slack, trying to process this information. Tristan grimaced at the look on Nico's face, and threw a glance over his shoulder.

"No need, your face says it all," he muttered, "Besides, it would be better just to ask the lady in question herself…"

This snapped Nico to attention. He straightened and leaned around Tristan to confirm that indeed, a petite figure was making its way over the peak of the hill. The sight of her silhouette brought a prickling sense of déjà vu from last night, when Tristan and himself rushed to her aid not many paces from where they stood now.

"Hi there," Erin snipped crisply, ignoring Nico, looking over Tristan instead. "And you are…?"

He stepped forward and extended one hand formally. "Tristan Hotch, son of Apollo."

Erin looked from his hand, to his face, and back to his hand, before hesitantly taking another step forward and shaking it. Tristan's smile widened, and to Nico's surprise, she returned it with a small grin.

"Nice to see you conscious this time," he chuckled. Nico stepped forward, tired of being ignored.

"You would have died on our front porch yesterday if it wasn't for him."

Erin threw Nico a scathing look of distaste, before ignoring him again.

"Oh. Thanks."

"No problem, s'what I do. From what I hear, I believe you two already met," Tristan said cautiously, obviously reading the tension between them.

"Sorta." "Not officially," they said at the same time. Nico sighed and moved to extend a hand as well. Better late than never, right? Erin raised a brow incredulously.

"Nico di Angelo, son of Hades."

There was a long moment of dead air where no one moved. Erin simply stared at him, gaze guarded and wary. As if he was trying to pull one over her with a handshake. Nico was just about to lose his patience, when she finally gave in and shook his outstretched hand.

"Erin Montjay. Daughter of Artemis."

* * *

><p>No big surprise there, though. xD Review oorrrr [insert standard empty threat] : )<p>

Next chapter: our little trio's adventure starts with a bang, but between facing their first hungry monster and bickering amongst themselves, do they even _want_ to shake their wrong footed start?


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